Of Crystal Shards and Dust
by Daemon of Wrath
Summary: An ill omen had foretold the future of a child not yet born into this world...and so Regis Lucis Caelum made a fateful decision. A decision that would lead his kingdom to a world of uncertainty. A world of mere Remnants.
1. Chapter 1

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, and some of his new projects, such as Lagrange 111: You Are (Not) Alone, Tokyo Ghoul: A Flowered Colored Darker Than Black, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Monarch, Kill the Deadly Sin, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DC Heroes: FORGOTTEN BLOODSTAINED LEGACY, DxD: Nocturne, Project, A Tale of Three Dragons, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, and more.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

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 ** _Long ago, we looked upon a foreboding sky..._**

 ** _The memory of the star that threatened all burns eternal in our hearts..._**

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The drive was boring, if not tiresome. The only source of entertainment it brought the young man was the music that played on the radio. The car had pulled up to the gas station, as the tank was running low. The young man gave a sigh as he pulled the car door away from him, and closing it behind him. He was a svelte young man, 20 years old most likely, standing at 5'9" ft with spiky black hair and blue eyes. He wore a black jacket with skull-motif buttons and sequenced details on the pockets. He kept it unzipped and the tag on the zipper also had a small skull. Underneath, he wore a steel gray shirt with skull prints. The young man wore black cropped trousers and black buckled boots with red soles. He also wore a black motorcycle glove on his left hand.

The young man sighed as he scratched the back of his head, making his way to the general store. The doors were open, as if inviting anyone to enter. However, when he set foot inside, the scenery changed. Rather than the interior of a local general store, he stood inside a bedroom...a luxurious one at that.

The walls were marble and lined with golden decorations. On the far end of the room in front of him were two single beds with curtains hung above them. Above each bed was a single painting. The image on the left was a depiction of a middle aged king, armored for battle. The image on the right was one of two children, a raven haired boy dressed in a black short-sleeved shirt and shots and a girl with short blonde hair garbed in a white dress. They were playing with two dogs, one with black fur, the other white.

He walked across the room and paid attention to the view outside the ornately paned windows to his right. As he approached the glass, he took note of the mannequin clad in a beautiful wedding dress in the corner of the room. Before his eyes, he saw daylight peer above a sea of stormy clouds.

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 ** _In its wake came an age of silence..._**

 ** _Yet with each fond remembrance, we knew, that those encountered would not be forgotten._**

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Then, just as quickly as he had seen that did he found himself back out on the streets...only the world above was not as smooth as the Regalia driving along the road. Above, the storm raged and burned, thunder and flames cackling alongside the gigantic metal carriers. Down below and away from the roads, away from the young man, giant plumes of flames danced upwards, ripping asunder the earth and leaving behind giant scorches of earth. He seemingly ignored the fact that the carriers were also shooting at him, the Regalia evading them with ease. When he passed, for a moment, he thought he saw a phantom figure standing by the road.

His attention turned to something odd. Amidst the destruction behind him, a small white dog sat next to an old, dead tree. The young man's eyes widened, recognizing the dog, though as a result of his actions, he had turned his eyes away from the road. When they returned, he found himself being pelted by blasts. He tried to swirl out of the way, to stop the car and get out quickly, but one blast struck the tires. As a result, the car was sent tumbling, rolling through the streets and sending him flying into the air.

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"N-Noctis!"

For a moment, the world shimmered. In that moment, the world turned to hell. Flames burned everywhere, scorching the earth and leaving naught but ash. Amid this destruction, a woman was fruitlessly defending herself against a figure cloaked in darkness, his sword clashing with her trident.

The strength behind the figure's blows forced her to the ground on her back. She had to roll out of the way to avoid the blade from cleaving her face in two. She got back up and deflected another strike. But a swift punch to the face knocked her back down.

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The young man slowly climbed up back to his feet. His clothing was torn and slightly singed from the crash. But he was still okay. He looked up and saw the dog, only for it to walk away from him and into the ominous distance.

He shook his head, trying to shake off what happened earlier, and chase after the dog. As he did, the world around him changed again. He was inside a desert, a city not too far away from him. An upturned gondola sat in the sand, which the small dog entered. The inside of the gondola was...far bigger that what it should have been. In fact, the interior was the inside of a train car, packed with soldiers. The emblem and the design of the armor made it easy for the young man to recognize them, but he was more concerned about the dog. He heard the sound of doors shutting softly behind him before the car began to sway, a sign the train was moving.

He turned his attention to the dog, which sat near the end of the car. He quickly made his way over, unaware that his reflection was showing a young woman with blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, wearing a beautiful white dress. As the train slowed, a sign it was nearing arrival, he turned his head, though the reflection was gone, revealing only his face, and the dog outside the train, waiting for him at the steps. As soon as the car doors slid open, he ran forward, pushing the soldiers in front of him away. However, as he did, the world changed again. Now he stood on some kind of docks, as the ocean sat below him and ships were lined up.

He rushed to chase after the dog, shoving more soldiers out of his way. But as he ran past them, many of them drew their rifles and aimed at him. He ran up to the railing and vaulted over it, landing on a set of stairs. He rushed down with the armor-clad men on his tail. He turned a corner to rush down another flight, but even more soldiers blocked his path. He shoved them out of the way, but more closed in. From a flash of blue light, daggers appeared in his hand as he fended off his interceptors.

He saw the dog further ahead, running away from the chaos. The young man gritted his teeth, and let the daggers disappear. Another flash of light, and a new weapon was in his hands; a giant broadsword. With a swung, the soldiers were cut down and blown away from him. Acting quickly before he was intercepted again, he threw the giant blade as if it weighed nothing. It stabbed into the floorboards away from him and in front of the steel doors that were quickly closing. A burst of light, and then he was where his sword was, rolling forward and into the small space the dog was in. He quickly got to his feet, and slammed his hand on one of the buttons, closing the doors. However, he was forced kneel down as bullets began to pierce into the door.

He took a moment to breathe as the bullets pelted the wall around him. He then looked down to look at the dog, whose soft eyes quickly glowed like fire.

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Sword clashed against Trident once more as the woman tried to fend off her attacker. She quickly raised a hand was a translucent barrier forced around her. The figure swung his sword on the defensive bubble, holding once. He swung again and the forced shattered the barrier, causing her to flew backwards, losing her grip on the Trident. She rolled on the scorched earth as her weapon landed next to her. Desperately, she crawled and grasped the shaft of the Trident, but it was soon pulled out from her fingers.

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Suddenly, the floor beneath him collapsed. No, that wasn't right. It was like the elevator had broken apart, leaving him to fall into the darkness.

The young man flailed in the shadows as he fell into the endless abyss. Desperate to live, he materialized a dagger and stabbed it into the space in front of him, actually stabbing into an unseen wall. Sparks flew as the blade tore through the metallic surface. As he slid down, he eventually landed on the surface and rolled onto his feet in the middle of a bridge…a bridge with an army of soldiers positioned on either side of him.

He looked around. Everywhere, the soldiers had their guns trained on him. Bracing himself for a fight, he called up another light into his hands, creating the daggers. He twisted his body around, and threw them. One dagger struck a soldier in the head, though instead of blood, there was only red sparks, and a cracked faceplate. The second dagger, however, glowed bright blue, and the young man emerged from it, quickly grabbing the dagger that floated in the air behind him, and then struck back against his attackers.

He cut through two soldiers with his daggers before switching weapons. The great sword was now in his hand was he cleaved through more of the armored officers. He then switched the massive blade for a spear before twirling it around and skewering another set of soldiers. The young man turned around and threw a flaming sphere into the air and threw a dagger behind him, causing him to warp further away into the air as the sphere detonated, engulfing the mob in a fiery explosion. He somersaulted in the air before landing on his feet.

Then, the world threw itself on his head. The young man found himself in a hallway...and no worse for wear. His jacket was discarded, smears of soot marred his face and hands, and the upper portion of his shirt was in tatters. Before him stood a mighty beast, its skin dark with a pair of horns sticking out from its head, and an orange mane streaking down its back.

He leaned to the left as the Beast's claws grazed him. The monster then tried to stomp on him using its other paw. He sidestepped and swung his sword underneath its jaw. Blood splattered onto the wall to his right, but it was still alive and enraged. The young man turned around and hurled his sword further away from the beast. He tried to warp to where it landed, but his ability failed for some reason. As a result, the massive beast swatted him with its paw, sending him crashing into the opposing wall.

Close by, the dog barked. The young man shook his head, trying to shake off the dizziness that afflicted him, and then ran after the dog. In front of them was a mirror, reflecting a dog with black fur running at the same time as the white dog, and the blonde woman trailing behind it. Without hesitation, the young man dived forward. The mirror rippled, as if it were water. A cold and wet feeling enveloped the young man. However, such a moment lasted for so long before he found himself back on his feet, steady, and staring down the barrels of several more soldiers. He glared at them, and readied his spear...only for it to fade away into particles of light.

Surprise took over his features, and was forced to quickly avoid the gunfire.

He ran toward the nearest soldier and ripped his assault rifle out of his hands before smacking the other one next to him with the butt of it. He then turned to aim at the incoming group of soldiers and pulled the trigger, letting the bullets fly. He took cover behind a stack of crates and looked above. He aimed and shot the lights illuminating the room above him, casting the enclosed space into darkness.

The battle was moving quickly. Everywhere, the young man was moving around, shooting down the mechanical soldiers while trying to keep himself alive. At one point, the gun was knocked out of his hands, and pinned to the wall with a gun ready to end him. However, he punched the soldier in the face, and then followed up with a kick, disorientating the soldier and ending it with a kick to the head. He took the gun, and then continued to move. However, he soon once again found himself on the defensive, as a giant mech stomped toward him, letting out a stream of bullets. Rockets were flying everywhere, threatening to destroy him if he was not careful.

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 ** _That someday, we would see them again..._**

 ** _Perhaps it was nothing more but wishful thinking..._**

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He quickly moved and took cover behind a large cargo hold. He peered out the side and tried to shoot the giant machine down. But a stray bullet knocked the rifle out of his hands. The white dog then jumped out from the shadows and ran across the battlefield, the massive machination trying to gun it down and stomp on it. The young man came out from his hiding place and took off after the dog.

The mech's attention was focused on the dog. He wouldn't be able to get near it without getting shot, so the best he could do was make sure it was safe. He noticed a nearby crane, and quickly made his way toward it.

He climbed up the metal stairs until he reached the operating deck of the large device. He grabbed the hooked chain on the floor and tossed it at the mech's direction. The hook wrapped itself around one of its arms. As soon as it did, he moved to the set of controls next to him and activated the crane. The mech tried to shoot him down through the device's gaps, but it was already done. The crane reeled the chain in, eventually falling on top of the attacking machine. As soon as the threat was dealt with, the young man raced his way over to the dog. It lied still on its side, its eyes wide open. Fearing the worst, he picked up his pace, only to fall a few meters away when the ground beneath him collapsed.

Then, as he fell, he found himself being pulled back up. He found himself on the dirt, the overwhelming heat causing sweat to drop from his body. He only now noticed that his shirt was completely gone, leaving only his tattered pants. He heard the sounds of growling and snarling. Immediately, he leaped up to his feet and found himself surrounded by giant creatures, all with three heads. Flames burned from their mouths, their fur black as charcoal, and their eyes burning like embers. The young man gritted his teeth, preparing himself for battle...only to realize what he was holding in his hands.

A trident. He also noticed the blood that had stained his chest. His eyes widened. What had happened? One moment he was falling, and now he was here? He then noticed the dog walking past him, strolling about as if not worried about what was happening around it. Thunder flashed by...and as it did, the dog's form changed. No longer was it the small, white puppy that had been seemingly guiding him. Now, it was bigger, the average size of a grown dog, with a dark-skinned body, left with only a few hairs...and cold, burning orange eyes.

Images then flashed by, was if every event that took place was going backwards. However, instead of the white furred dog from before, the dark skinned dog took its place at every point. Its orange eyes glared menacingly at the young man. Said person closed his eyes and shake the sense of dread away. A single hand rested on top of the dog's head as it turned to snarl at the man.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. He could feel his body aching, and his head ready to split. He threw the trident to the ground, as more images invaded his mind. The blonde-haired girl laid on the ground, her white dress marred with soot and ripped with several tears, and her trident was aimed at her. At first, it was hard to make out the holder of the trident, as shadows covered their body...then he stepped out from the darkness.

It was none other than himself, his cold, orange eyes relishing in his kill.

Lighting flashed again. The girl lay dead at his feet, the white dog not far from her.

Unable to take the madness anymore, the man fell on his knees and wailed in anguish.

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 _ **After the long calm, there are beginnings of a stir...**_

 _ **The reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear...**_

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"...how many must die, before you are satisfied?"

 **"I have seen many deaths...but now? I am looking forward to one. And then...I can rest."**

"He will take responsibility, you know."

 **"As must we all..."**

The light from the crystal faded. Before it, the man closed his eyes, letting out a troubled, worn sigh. He must have been in his late thirties or so, as signs of old age were beginning to show. He was dressed in a simple, yet sharp black suit with faded pinstripes, easily blending in with the dark color. Underneath the jacket, he wore a black dress shirt, complete with a neat tie. At his feet, he wore polished black shoes. His black hair was combed back neatly, though there were a few gray strands here and there. A dark, yet small beard covered his chin, connecting with the thin mustache on his upper lip.

"...it appears you've gazed into the abyss, King Regis," a female voice spoke from behind him. "And the abyss has gazed back." Regis Lucis Caelum, the sovereign king of Lucis, turned to see a young woman standing not far from him, having only now entered the chamber. Her blonde hair fell upon her shoulders, dressed in ornate white robes with golden trims, and a vibrant azure blue mantle placed upon her shoulders. Atop her head was a golden circlet, her eyes bearing wonderful blue colors of intelligence. Placed atop her dome was a silver crown, signifying her status. "What dream has come from the Crystal?"

"...a terrible one," Regis answered solemnly. "One that would promise the safety of this world, and an end to the Starscourge...but it comes at a cost I cannot begin to comprehend."

"Pray tell...what loss is it that gives you pause, Your Majesty?" Sylva Nox Fleuret asked. "The Crystal itself? Your Kingdom? Or...your life?"

Regis' face turned grim. "Worse...my unborn son."

The woman's gaze softened from the answer. For one's child fated to sacrifice themselves for the greater good is a true tragedy.

"The royal family has always been plagued by the curse our ancestors left for us," the king lamented, moving out into a balcony, showing a grand view of Insomnia, the capital of Lucis. The cityscape stretched out far, and beyond it, lands that were promised to be forever protected. Lands that would not be touched. Lands that would be defended. "A curse that still follows us...and now Niflheim wishes to take Lucis, and its crystal." His hands balled into fists. "It is one thing to watch as my people are being threatened by a gluttonous nation...but another thing to learn that my son must die to end this wretched curse." He gritted his teeth. It was taking everything...everything he had, to not call forth his arms and destroy the crystal. "How much more must I suffer as my people suffer?"

The Oracle did not know how to respond to his words.

Eventually, his frustration faded into lament. "Is there nothing I can do?" Regis asked. Who the question was intended for was a mystery. Perhaps for himself, to the Oracle, to the crystal, or perhaps some unseen figure? "Nothing at all?"

Silence was what greeted him. He expected as much. After all, who could hold such answers? Then, Sylvia spoke. "...King Regis...if granted the power to do so, would you take your kingdom, and your child, away from all of this?" Regis turned to her, confusion clear on his face. "Away from this burden? Away from the conflict that will happen?"

"Of course I would," Regis responded, perhaps a bit too hostile. "But this is a kingdom, not some household belonging that can easily be moved."

"That may be...but it is still possible..." She responded calmly.

"What do you mean...?"

Then, Sylvia began to explain to the young king. Ever since Niflheim began its conquest, she had received strange, almost prophetic visions. Visions of a world so vastly different from that of their own. A world where history was left broken and fractured, having become mere remnants of the past. A world where four kingdoms lived in peace. A world free of the haunting reminder of their forebears. A world without Niflheim. A world without the scourge of daemons that threatened the lives of innocent people. Truly, it was a world that brought forth a sense of wondrous euphoria, for while the present was that of an era that had forgotten its history, the future generations were the reminder that they had a past. The more Sylvia spoke of this, the more Regis became enthralled by its promise, yet still remained confused. How could such a world exist? Where was it? Was it perhaps nothing more but fervent dreams? No, these were the dreams born from the Oracle, and such dreams held merit.

"I...do not understand," Regis said. "Why tell me this, Queen Sylvia? What good would come of telling me of a world so far out of reach?"

Sylvia smiled softly, turning to the troubled monarch with a look of assurance. "I tell you this...because it is a world that Lucis can go," she told him, startling the king. "A world where Niflheim cannot reach you."

Regis nearly fell to the floor, feeling his strength being swept away. A world...where Niflheim would not touch them? They could truly go to such a place? "B-but how?" he asked, his voice weak. "We are talking of moving a kingdom. It is the same as uprooting a tree with its roots buried deep to the earth."

"It may be a difficult task, but not at all impossible...with the power of the Crystal..." She answered.

Regis turned to look at the Crystal. Even now, it still shined softly, giving an almost ephemeral glow that couldn't ever be hoped to be replicated. His heart was leaping at the prospect of a safehaven...but given his responsibilities, even he knew that before such a thing could come to pass, he must first hear the wishes of everyone. "...I shall inform the council," he said carefully. "And then inform the public. I can only hope this decision can truly bring us away from this terrible conflict."

"It can, Your Majesty," Sylvia told him. "Have faith, Regis...have faith."

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 ** _But let us embrace, whatever it may bring..._**

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As per Regis' orders, the Council had allowed news of this recent development to be released to the public. News of a new world, one free from the threat of Niflheim, of daemons, and of stray monsters had spread quickly, like wildfire. It covered Insomnia in less than a day, and then spread to the neighboring territories. It quickly grew faster, reaching from every region under Lucis' watchful eye. Duscae became the focal point where information distributed, and soon, in less than a week, the news had traveled all the way to the kingdom's borders.

The revelation of such a change sparked various reactions from the public. From joy, to sorrow, to fear, to skepticism, everything.

The effects even spread to the Crownsguard, the Hunters, and Kingsglaive.

However, as the people grew to ponder this, news of Niflheim's approach grew ever close.

The public stirred uneasily. Their enemy was nearing their borders.

And so, the public, including the military, Crownsguard, and the Glaive, had chosen to support the decision. The threat of Niflheim...of them conquering and taking their homes was too much. Regis, for his part, was worried if not all the territories would be taken, but the Queen of Tenebrae had informed him that all territories of Lucis would join Insomnia.

Thus, the King made his decision.

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"...the public has supported the decision, Your Majesty," one of Regis' closest friends, Clarus Amicitia, said as he stood beside him in front of the Crystal. "However...just to be sure, will this world truly give us the peace we seek?"

Regis sighed. "I can only hope, my friend." He then placed his hand against the Crystal. The ring on his finger, which contained the souls of the Lucii, began to glow brilliantly. In tandem, the Crystal shined ever brighter. Light poured out from the crystal, flowing out into the world. It felt Regis' will, the desire and need to bring his kingdom to a new home, a home where they would be safe from the dangers that ravaged them ever so closely. Within the Crystal, he felt IT begin to stir. IT too sensed Regis' will. For a moment, fear began to surface in his heart. Would IT be displeased with him? ITs thinking was so radically different from that of a human. After all, IT was something so much greater...so much more.

However, to his relief, IT agreed with Regis' decision. The Crystal's shine grew ever brighter. Soon, it's light seeped upward, forming into a great pillar. Behind the king, Sylvia clasped her hands, bowing her head as if in prayer, as a golden glow began to dance around her.

The pillar then expanded outward, everyone and everything within its path became bathed with its blinding radiance.

Eventually, the pillar of light soon consumed the entirety of Lucis. To the approaching Niflheim forces, it would be as if a gigantic light had swallowed up the entire kingdom. The flagship fleet, led by one Iedolas Aldercapt, could only look on with anxiety and confusion. "What is going on?" Aldercapt demanded, clearly not understanding what was happening. "What is this light?!" Eventually, the light faded away from view. It left only the world before them, their new lands to conquer and take. The first country they had taken would be Tenebrae's territories, which were far too easy. They assumed that the Lucii territories would be just as easy.

However...what they saw left all speechless.

There were no lands to be found. Not a shred of earth. There were no glorious cities or towns to be conquered. No roads that would all lead to Insomnia the illustrious capital where the Crystal laid in wait to be taken. There were no grasslands that held their famed wonders or beasts. There, before them...was only the crystalline ocean, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The Kingdom of Lucis had vanished from the face of Eos.

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 _ **For they are coming back...**_

 _ **At last, the promise has been made.**_

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 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

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 **Chapter 1: The Kingdom that Came from Another World  
**  
It had been so sudden. There was not a single sign of it happening before. The day was average. The sky a brilliant azure. The white boards soaring overhead. The people going about their business. Everything was perfectly normal...and then a golden light pierced from the heavens, seen from far away. The Four Kingdoms of Vale, Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas had seen it all. While the light was far away, it was incredibly hard to miss such a grand sight. Everyone did not know what it meant, nor could they understand it. It was still alarming.

And thus, for that reason, six individuals had been tasked with investigating it. Five were from Vale's Beacon Academy, while the sixth was Atlas' own General, having been newly appointed around a good six months ago. However, of the six, four were only teenagers.

Those four were students at one of the four Huntsman academies in Remnant: Beacon Academy in the Kingdom of Vale. These four young individuals composed the strongest team of their year.

Team STRQ.

The first of the four was a boy with short messy blonde hair with two strands sticking out from the top of his head, bearing blue eyes. He wore brown cargo pants with a dark brown belt, black shoes, a orange bandana on his left arm, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off. For armor, he wore a metal spaulder, leather vambrace, and a brown fingerless glove, all on his right arm. His name was Taiyang Xiao Long.

The second was another male, a teen with black spiky hair and red eyes with a red, tattered cloak and he wore a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He also wore a ring on his right index finger, two other rings on his right fourth finger, and a necklace with a crooked cross-shaped pendant. Strapped to his back was a large metal blade. His name was Qrow Branwen.

The third was a girl who shared similar features to the second boy. She had long black hair, with the fringe coming down to the brows of her eyes, and deep red eyes. She wore a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. An object that looked to be made from feathers hanged from the right side of her skirt. She also wore detached black leggings with a red splatter pattern, and black leather boots beneath them. At her hip was a large sheathe, and extruding from it a slim hilt, which was much smaller than the size of the sheathe. Her name was Raven Branwen, Qrow's twin sister.

The fourth was the shortest of the bunch. Most of her form was covered by a white cloak, with the hood drawn over her head. Beneath the hood was black hair with red tips, and lustrous silver eyes. Underneath the cloak, she wore a black shirt and skirt with frills underneath, colored white in contrast to the black. Her name was Summer Rose, the leader of Team STRQ.

They all stared out the window of the highest tower of Beacon, their attention focused on the pillar of light off in the distance. The room they were in also happened to be the Headmaster's office, who was also staring at the sudden phenomenon.

He was a tall, middle aged man with tousled silver hair and brown eyes. He had a light complexion and sharp facial features. A pair of shaded spectacles rested on the bridge of his nose. A cross-shaped pin was fastened on the green cowl around his neck. His outfit consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and a green shirt. He also wore black trouser shoes and long, dark green pants. In his left hand was a white coffee mug with the Beacon Academy insignia of two axes crossed together within a circle decorated by a leaf on each axe handle. In his right hand was a long cane. The handle was silver and embellished with a pattern and had a knuckle guard that reaches to the bottom of the handle. The larger area of the handle's base contained small, gold-colored gears. The shaft of the cane had a gray-black coloration and appeared to be square in shape.

His name was Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

Beside him was another man, the General from Atlas. He wore a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie, and a white glove on his right hand. His suit pants shared the same color as his overcoat and were tucked into silver boots accented in gray. His hair was black, with some silver and gray areas, while his eyebrows are solid black. He had a strip of silver metal above his right eyebrow.

He was James Ironwood.

He had arrived from Atlas at the request of Ozpin to help investigate this matter.

"So, let me guess," Qrow said sarcastically. "We're totally not here because of the big light shining outside the window, huh?"

His sister, Raven, elbowed him in the ribs for the remark. "Quiet, Qrow."

"Ow! I was just asking..."

Summer ignored her teammate and stepped forward. "So, what's the story?" she asked softly. "Do we know what's doing that?"

"Unfortunately, no," Ozpin replied. "That light continues to shine, even after an hour has passed, and in that hour, we have learned absolutely nothing from it."

"As far as we can tell," Ironwood continued. "It doesn't appear to be doing anything that is otherwise harmful. In fact, it seems to cover a large portion of the ocean, a few hundred kilometers off the coast of Menagerie."

Taiyang raised an eyebrow. "Menagerie?" he questioned. "That's where most of the Faunus are, right?"

"Correct," the Headmaster nodded. "Still, until we gather more information, we'll simply just have to watch, though once we've gathered sufficient intel, the four of you will investigate what's causing that light."

"Really?" Summer asked. "Us? N-not that I'm saying that we wouldn't do it because we totally would but...why us?"

"The better question is, why not?" the man smiled. "True, you may be only second-years, fresh out of the year I might add, but you are still the best team we have. Your track record speaks for itself."

"Really?!" Summer smiled with stars in her eyes. Their team was the best out of the whole school? Amazing!

Raven chuckled. patting the girl on the head. "Down, girl."

"So, what do we know?" Qrow asked, placing his hands behind his head, seemingly bored. "Other than that it came out of freaking nowhere?"

"That is still under investigation." Ironwood answered. "As we speak, I have my soldiers on standby around the pillar to observe any changes."

"In other words," the teen chuckled. "We don't know jack shit."

Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "Now, see here, Mr. Branwen-"

"Uh...guys?" Taiyang called out, earning everyone's attention. "I...could be wrong, but it was sunny out, right?"

Raven frowned. "Yeah, why..." she trailed off as she looked out the window...and then understood her answer. Everyone followed their gazes, and even they understood. It had indeed been sunny out, with the weather forecast calling for no rain at all this week. The temperatures would have been just right for an outdoor picnic if any were in the mood.

However, the sky was dark and gray. The cracking of thunder boomed quietly, so they hadn't noticed it before. However, as they turned, it became more noticeable, as flashes shocked by, creating loud cracks enough to scare anyone.

"What the hell?" Qrow shouted, running towards the window. "When did this storm show up?!"

"Forget the storm!" Taiyang rebuked. "Tell me why there's freaking tornados of water out there!"

"Say what?!" Summer questioned as she rushed up to the window and pressed her palms against the glass. Just as her team mate said, spiraling pillars of water surged through the air not just around from the faraway ocean, but even inland as well!

Ozpin and Ironwood were both staring in absolute shock, as if unable to fully comprehend what was happening. Then, Ironwood's scroll began to vibrate. Scowling, he took it out, and pressed it to his ear. "Tell me what's happening!"

"I-I don't know, sir!" the scout reported, panicked. "B-but there's...there's icebergs out on the coast of Vacuo!"

Ozpin's eyes widened. "Vacuo?" he questioned. "How? That place is nothing but hot air and desert! They haven't experienced any sort of winter within the last hundred years!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"This is inexcusable...how dare that wretched king wake me and throw me into this place?! I shall drown him where he stands!"

"Calm thyself, Leviathan...'tis not the monarch's blunder that we hath found ourselves here in these strange lands."

"How curious...it would be understandable, were it only Titan who resides in Duscae, along with Ramuh...but why us?"

"INDEED...HOWEVER, THESE LANDS ARE STRANGE. I FEEL A DARKNESS LURKING WITHIN THE EARTH...IT IS NOT AS PUTRID OR AS DARK AS THE ACCURSED...BUT IT IS MOST UNPLEASANT."

"I feel Ifrit's presence here as well...have all of the Six been gathered?"

"...that is correct, Shiva. I have allowed Regis Lucis Caelum to use the Crystal, and bring the kingdom of Lucis to this world known as Remnant."

"What for?! Explain yourself, Bahamut, lest I drown you with the rest of these miserable specs!"

"ENOUGH BICKERING. LET BAHAMUT SPEAK, LEVIATHAN, LEST YOU REMEMBER THAT EARTH AND STONE CAN HURT WATER JUST AS MUCH AS ICE."

"Titan...you miserable-"

 **"Enough."**

The Draconian cut the conversation to a halt with a single word. At once, the squabble ceased.

 **"As Titan has observed...the Accursed and the Starscourge have not touch this world. By all rights, King Regis has averted the destiny that would have befallen Noctis Lucis Caelum."**

"Ah...so the king has chosen to fight against the fate of his son."

"IN DOING SO, HE HAS ABANDONED EOS, LEAVING THEM TO THE STARSCOURGE..."

"Hmph...good riddance. Those specs did not deserve to be saved."

"Why dost thou despise humanity so, Leviathan? Hast they wronged thou in some manner?"

"Of course! Those fools are all hungry for power! Their greed is insatiable! Their arrogance knows no bounds!"

"...YOU ARE SPEAKING OF HUMANS WHO HAVE SUCCUMBED TO THE DARKNESS THAT SLUMBERS IN ALL LIVING CREATURES. YOU CANNOT LABEL ALL OF HUMANITY IN SUCH A MANNER."

"Indeed...if anything, you are beginning to sound like Ifrit."

"Y-you...! You dare compare to that traitor, Shiva?!"

"Enough of this tomfoolery! Let thy Draconian Lord speak, lest I call upon mine Judgement Bolt to bring sense to thy addle thoughts!"

"Che..."

 **"...while it is true, in that Regis Lucis Caelum has forsaken Eos...the fate of the Chosen King has yet to be determined."**

The rest of the Hexeans quieted down to let their leader speak. **"Due to his and the Oracle's decision, the path of his future has been rewritten."**

"...I SEE..."

"Will his path the end the same as fate had once decreed?"

 **"I am not omnipotent, Shiva...I know not where his fate shall lead now. However, fate still decrees Noctis Lucis Caelum as the Chosen King. Thus, I have permitted this action. The Crystal is the binding force between Eos and the Astral Realm...and now, we reside in this world that has so long ago forgotten its history. We must make the most of it. You all may do as you please...however, do not cause trouble. I do not wish for another Ifrit to be born into this world."**

"UNDERSTOOD, BAHAMUT."

"As thou decrees."

"As you wish, Draconian."

"Hmph..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Storms, water tornados, glaciers, and now fucking earth spires?" Qrow asked, scratching his head. "You'd think the world was coming to an end!"

Ironwood's features were stern and serious as he stared at the pillar of light. "Oz...I don't think we have anymore time to sit around and wait."

"For once, I agree with you," Ozpin nodded, surprising the man. "Waiting is all well and good...but I believe action is what is best for now."

"Then let us go." Ironwood typed in a command on his scroll. He got a response not even two seconds later. "I have a ship ready for us. If everyone is prepared, we best leave now."

XXXXXXXXXX

Nyx Ulric was nervous. Hell, everyone in the Kingsglaive was.

Why wouldn't they be? They were all in uncharted territory now. The entire Kingdom of Lucis had just been transported from Eos into an unknown world.

"Good fucking GOD that was weird!" Crowe Altius said, giving herself a checkover to see if she was okay. "I thought Warping was something, but that? That was-ugh, I feel like I'm about to barf."

"Sorry, Crowe, but someone's already beaten ya to that one," Libertus Ostium chuckled, pointing over to one of their fellow members, who was currently in the process of vomiting. "Oi, Tredd! How's your stomach!"

The light brown-haired teen gave the man a glare. "F-fuck you!" he said before resuming heaving up his lunch.

"You know, we probably shouldn't have eaten before we came here...then we wouldn't have to clean up the mess." Libertus spoke thoughtfully.

Nyx chuckled. 'Yeah, probably should have,' he thought. He had spent only two years as a Glaive, and yet never once did he ever imagine his life turning out like this. He could still hardly believe it...a world unlike their own, one without Niflheim or Crystals or whatever. A peaceful world...though they all knew that they shouldn't call it that until they confirmed what this world was like. He gave a glance to his comrades. Libertus was slightly pudgy, but that didn't work against him. In fact, Nyx was sure that was muscle fat and not actual fat. He had once seen the man lift a baby behemoth over his shoulder like it was nothing, despite them being around the same age. His brown hair was slightly unkempt and messy, with the right side above his ear slightly shaven, leaving only the braids. Crowe was a beautiful girl, he was willing to admit that, but he dared not say it aloud lest Libertus punch him. Her dark hair was tied back slightly into a small bundle, though her bangs framed her face perfectly. Unlike the other Glaives, a cape hung around her shoulders, mainly due to her being more geared towards Magic, and therefore, considered apart of the Mage Unit. Tredd was around Nyx's age, with most of his hair sticking up.

Nyx himself didn't consider himself shabby. Like the other Glaives, he wore the standard uniform, but his was customized with a silver horn on its hood, purple ribbons on its back, and pelts of blue-gray fur on its left sleeve. His hair was swept back as he preferred it, with the hairline coming down to the nape of the neck.

"So, Libertus," he called out to his childhood friend, looking out on the horizon. They were currently at one of the outposts, standing near the Galdin Quay, a luxurious restaurant with a dock standing out at the edge. "What do you think? Whole new world now...still can't believe it."

"Neither can I, Nyx." The man shook his head with a smile. "Honestly, I'm excited and terrified outta my wits."

Crowe giggled. "Well, I don't blame you," she confessed as she stared out at the ocean. "Look at it all...it's just like the one we're used to staring at...but I don't see that weird-ass rock anymore, or feel all that tension. Hell, I'm waiting for a Nif to just show up out on the horizon."

"Don't blame you," Tredd said as he wiped the remains of his vomit. "Still, are we even sure this was the best thing to do?"

"Well, which would you prefer?" Nyx asked back hotly. "Go to war with the Nifs and get our asses kicked, or leave? Personally, I'm glad the King made this decision. True, some might see us as cowards, but you know what? At least we still have our homes!"

"Yeah, and abandoning the rest of Eos in the process..." Tredd rebutted.

Crowe growled. "Why you son of a...!"

"Knock it off!" Libertus shouted. "Okay, so we abandoned Eos, but so what?! The King may be a coward, but at least we still have our homes! If Niflheim had attacked, think about what could have happened!"

Tredd opened his mouth to speak, but any rebuttal died in his throat. As much as he hated to admit it, he was right...

They all knew what could have happened. Niflheim would have taken the territories one by one, taken their homes away from them. The thought of it terrified the hell out of them, especially when reports that Niflheim grew closer and closer. "H-hey, let's not go fighting among ourselves," Pelna Khara said, trying to placate them. He was a few years younger than the rest of them, possessing light brown skin and somewhat messy black hair. "We're supposed to be keeping a lookout in case someone from this world tries to make contact with us."

"In that case," Luche Lazarus spoke up, having been absent from the conversation. He had neatly combed brown hair, which was slicked back to provide a sense of intelligence, and his eyes narrowed. "I think we better call it in." The group turned, and found something moving towards them in the distance. "Get Commander Titus. Tell him we've got company."

XXXXXXXXXX

"...um, has that always been there?"

"No," Raven said, still as confused and awed as the rest of them. "No it has not."

The six individuals could only gape in amazement at what they were seeing. A completely new landmass...nay, a completely new KINGDOM...right in the middle of the ocean. They knew for sure that place didn't exist before. Did the pillar of light have something to do with it?

"Tai, pinch me," Qrow whispered. "Cause I think I might have had someone slip me a roofie."

"You're not dreaming, Qrow," Taiyang said, equally as amazed. "This is...holy crap! H-how long has this place been here? H-how did we not even notice it?"

Ozpin hummed thoughtfully, placing a hand to his chin. "Certainly intriguing. Once that light dissipated, not only do the strange weather phenomenon and spires vanish without a trace, but now a new land has suddenly appeared, almost as if out of nowhere." He turned to look at James, who was completely stupefied. "What do you think, James?"

"...I believe this to be an unbelievable phenomenon..." The General answered. "Oz, entire land masses don't just appear in the span of hours, let alone an entire civilization on top of them. This defies all laws of physics. It's just not possible..."

"And yet, here it is," the Headmaster smiled. "Now, the question remains...what kind of Kingdom do you think its?"

Before Ironwood could answer, the pilot called out to the General. "General Ironwood, we have radio contact," he shouted. "They're wishing to speak with whoever is in charge. Should we respond?"

The pilot nodded, and then patched the communications through. "My name is James Ironwood, General of the Altesian Military," James spoke clearly. "With me is Ozpin, Headmaster of the Huntsman Academy Beacon. May I ask who we are speaking to?"

"Titus Drautos, Commander of the Kingsglaive," the voice responded. "You are currently entering Lucian airspace. State your business."

"Kingsglaive?" Summer parroted. "Lucian?"

She did not know these terms. Who are these guys? She looked to her team mates for answers, but they didn't know any more than her.

Ironwood and Ozpin also looked confused, but they instead focused on the question placed before them. "We've come to investigate the strange phenomenon here in this area," Ozpin said. "Imagine our surprise, though, when a continent suddenly appears out of thin air. Pardon if this sounds presumptuous, but may we speak with you? Face to face, preferably?"

The radio was silent for a while. Soon, it came back crackling to life. "...Very well. But be aware that we still have no reason to trust you. I kindly ask you to abide by our instructions."

"Fair enough."

"Very well. We'll set up a guiding beacon for you."

With that, communications ended. Shortly afterwards, blue flares danced up into the air.

"I take it that's our signal to land." Qrow said.

Summer let out a nervous sigh. "Oh god, I'm nervous. W-what if we leave a bad first impression?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Raven told her as she folded her arms. "Although...we should be ready for a fight, just in case."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Contact?" Regis said with large eyes. "Already?"

Clarus nodded. "Indeed, Your Majesty," he responded. "Apparently, the individuals in question are Ozpin and James Ironwood, the latter of which calls himself a general of the Altesian Military, while Ozpin is apparently the headmaster of a school. Going by context, his school may train individuals not unlike the Kingsglaive, or the Hunters."

"I see." The King rested his chin in his hand in thought. If that were the case, then this world must be facing its own threat of some sort.

One can only hope it wasn't another war, or perhaps beasts on par with that of the daemons. He turned to his friend, and gave him a nod. "Inform Titus to bring our guests here. I would like to speak with them personally."

"With all due respect, Regis, are you sure that's wise?" Clarus asked cautiously. "We know nothing of these people."

"And neither do they. We are strangers who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to them, just as much as they are to us. We already had one enemy, and I do not want another."

XXXXXXXXXX

When the Bulkhead landed, Ozpin and Qrow were greeted by individuals garbed in black attire and silver masks over their faces. The man who they assumed to be Titus stood in front of them. He was actually quite young, possibly in his early twenties or so, with short and rugged black hair, and signs of small facial hair growing along his chin. A small thin line, likely a scar, ran across from his cheek to the bridge of his nose. Unlike the black-clad individuals, he wore a pale red tunic with a black cape over it, mostly covering his left side, and black pants with heavy boots. "General Ironwood," he greeted. "Headmaster Ozpin...welcome to Lucis."

"It is a pleasure for you to have us, Commander." Ozpin greeted amiably, extending his hand out.

Titus smiled somewhat, taking hands with the man. Both noted how tense, yet also how worn they were. He then took notice of the four students behind Ozpin. "I take it these four are your students?"

Summer smiled as she bowed respectfully. "Summer Rose, leader of Team STRQ," she introduced. "I-it's a pleasure."

Libertus leaned over to Nyx, whispering to his friend. "Are you seeing this?" he asked. "They're a bunch of kids!"

"Like we aren't?" Nyx responded. "After all, so long as you know how to fight, and if your willing, even someone at the age of 13 can join the Glaive."

"I know that, but still...!"

"Sorry to make introductions short," Titus said. "However, His Majesty wishes to speak with the two of you."

That caught Ozpin and James by surprise. Majesty? They had a monarch? "I see," Ozpin said quickly, not wanting to show surprise. "Well, lead the way, Mr. Drautos."

Titus nodded, then turned to Nyx. "Ulric, you and your team take Mr. Ozpin's students back with you," he instructed. "The General and the Headmaster will be with me and Luche."

"Understood," Nyx nodded. The group then moved over to the cars waiting for them. Crowe, Pelna, and Libertus joined with him as Team STRQ trailed behind them. He propped open the doors leading into the back, and bowed. "Ladies first."

Summer giggled. "A gentleman," she said before looking at Qrow. "You could learn a thing or two from him, Qrow."

"Oi!"

Libertus blinked. "Wait, your name's crow?" he asked before grinning. "What do you know? One of our friend's name is Crowe too!"

"Really? Wow, what a coincidence. Is he also a sarcastic bastard like ours?" Taiyang asked.

"Hey!"

"SHE...is standing right next to me." Nyx pointed a thumb over to the aforementioned girl.

Crowe smirked. "Sup?"

"Oh...uh...I'm sorry..." The blonde apologized. Qrow smacks him from behind the head.

"She gets an apology, and you call me a sarcastic bastard?"

Raven smirked at him. "Well, it's technically true."

"Et tu, my dear sister?" the male twin groaned. "Et tu?"

Crowe laughed. "Well, I'd like to think I'm sarcastic," she said as she hopped into the van with Summer. "And before any of you boys say anything...do keep in mind I own a knife collection." Taiyang and Qrow couldn't help but shiver with the way she glared at them as she said that. It was almost like the look their history professor gave them when she was seriously pissed off...which was pretty much everyday. Regardless, they soon hopped inside the van.

The cars' engines roared to life, and immediately began to move.

As they drove, the young Glaives decided to strike up conversation with the four students.

"So...you guys are warriors in training or something?" Libertus asked.

"Something like that," Taiyang shrugged. "We're training to become Huntsmen."

Nyx raised an eyebrow. "Huntsman?" he asked. "So, like a Hunter?"

"Hunters?" Summer questioned. "Well, I used they're sorta similar. But what are Hunters to you four?"

"Basically jack of all trades that go around hunting monsters that roam around," Pelna said. "Speaking of that, what kind of nasty pests do you got? We've got things of all shapes and sizes."

"Well, we have monsters called Grimm, and they pretty much come in all shapes and sizes too." Qrow answered.

"Grimm?"

Summer nodded. "Yeah...nobody knows much about them, other than that they pretty much hate any living creature they come across. That's where we come in!" A proud smile graced her features. "It's why we Huntress and Huntsmen exist! To protect our kingdoms and everyone in them!"

"Heh," Libertus grinned. "Doesn't sound too different from us Glaives!"

"Yeah!" Nyx nodded as he made a right turn. "We protect Lucis and its inhabitants, and take out monsters."

"Doesn't sound like much difference then," Tai chuckled. "So, what kind of monsters do you guys got?"

"Well, we've got this freaking ugly mofo called a Behemoth..."

"And these slithery creeps called Nagas." Crowe added.

"Don't forget the Saber Tusks!" Pelna interjected. "Nasty buggers are freaking everywhere!"

"And there's a monster that's half-bird, half-monster, and half-airship." Libertus described.

"...you realize that's three halves..." Raven commented.

"Wow, you guys have a variety of monsters..." Taiyang stated in amazement.

Nyx chuckled. "Yeah, well...let's just say the wildlife is something we're used to." He did grimace, thinking about the monsters used by the Empire, and also the damnable creatures that emerged during the night. "Anyway, it'll be a while before we hit Insomnia, so...who wants to swap stories?"

"Ooh! Oh! Me! I do! I do!" Summer raised her hand high with a chipper smile.

Libertus chuckled. "She's a real chipper one, isn't she?"

"You have noooo idea," Taiyang laughed.

From there on, during the whole ride, Nyx and his team traded stories with those of Team STRQ. For the students, it was the missions they had been assigned, as well as the occasional class drama. The most interesting one was Qrow Branwen's apparent refusal to dress in uniform, and thus was somehow tricked (*cough* "Willingly!" *cough*) by Taiyang and two other students, Port and Oobleck, and wore a skirt, effectively showing off his legs...and he had absolutely no shame. Needless to say, both parties laughed while Qrow was growling and pouting. For the young soldiers, it was tales out on the front lines, defending Lucis from any monsters of Niflheim soldiers who tried to invade their borders. They explained their situation; that they were from another world, and were in possession of the last crystal, and through it, the King, Regis Lucis Caelum, had protected his Kingdom. The group was naturally shocked to learn this, and as the Glaive had expected, they didn't initially believe them. It was hard to, after all, for who had ever heard of another world? However, as they told more and more stories, they soon began to believe them.

"Damn," Qrow said somberly. "So it was either go to war with guys who pretty much dominated the world, or turn tail and leave...I'd call your King a coward, but he's smarter than most."

Raven nodded. "There's a difference between foolhardiness and being smart. In my opinion, the King made the correct decision. From the sound of it, Niflheim, technology wise, had you outgunned."

"You don't know the half of it..." Nyx shook his head as he stopped at a red light. "If we went to war, we would've lost our homes to the Nifs."

Summer bit her lip. "B-but...aren't you said? L-leaving this Eos place, I mean?"

"We're...still trying to cope with that," Crowe admitted. "But, at least we have our homes, and our family."

Qrow shrugged at this. "Well, least you know what's important," he said before he realized something. "Wait a sec...how old are you guys?"

"Pelna's 14," Nyx answered. The light turned green and he drove onward. "The rest of us are 15. There's a couple of the guys in the Glaive who are 16 and 18 too."

"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DRIVING?!" Taiyang shouted, now suddenly fearing for his life despite the smooth drive.

Libertus cackled. "Hey, if you're old enough to fight...then you're fucking old enough to drive and drink!"

"Wait, you guys drink?! That's not good!" Summer shouted.

"...Suddenly I don't feel as safe now..." The blonde was now gripping his seat in terror. His fear was proven as Nyx had to make a sharp turn to avoid the cat crossing the road.

Raven, however, was laughing. "Oh, I like you guys."

"Thanks. The feeling's mutual." Crowe smiled.

"Oh dear god," Qrow whimpered. "Raven's found someone she can relate to. We are so fucking screwed."

Pelna chuckled, liking the atmosphere. It was very nice, and everyone was being civil. That said, however, he knew better than to hope it would always be like this. These were just the first people they've met. There were many more dialogues and introductions to come, but he could at least be hopeful. He looked out the window, and smiled widely. "We're home!"

Team STRQ stopped their own activities, and looked out the windows. What they say took their breath away.

If they thought Beacon was impressive before, then the campus back home has nothing on the sight they seeing right now.

Everywhere they looked, they saw crowded busy streets, tall buildings that almost appeared to be made of silver. There were several towering skyscrapers, making look almost surreal and beautiful, especially with the brilliant azure sky hanging overhead. Truly, the sights they saw were far beyond anything that could compare to whatever they had seen. Eventually, the cars pulled up in front of a large building, taller and far grander than even that of their school. Waiting for them at the steps was a man with dark hair and a beard growing on his face, bearing an already aging face, and dressed in a fine black suit with faded pinstripes. Beside him stood a man with thinning white hair, and a white beard growing on his face as well, though he was dressed in ornate white robes. The cars then parked right at the front. "Everybody out!" Nyx said. Everyone then removed themselves from the car, stepping out into the Kingdom of Lucis' capital city of Insomnia. "Ladies and gents, welcome to Insomnia."

"Insomnia...like the sleep condition?" Summer tilted her head in confusion.

"Yep." Libertus nodded.

Ironwood and Ozpin, who had been Titus, vacated the car in front of Nyx's. As they did so, the man approached. "I hope the drive here wasn't too rough," he said. "Nor was there any trouble."

"Oh no, nothing of the sort," Ozpin assured. "I assume your King Regis?"

The man smiled, and nodded. "Regis Lucis Caelum, at your service. I take it you are Sir Ozpin?"

"That is indeed correct." He then turned to his companion. "And this here is General James Ironwood of the Atlesian army."

"It is an honor to meet you, you're majesty." Ironwood extended a hand in greeting.

Regis took his hand, and immediately noted how it seemed...cold, almost rough. "I believe we have much to discuss, gentlemen," he said, gesturing to the building. "Well then, shall we?"

"We appreciate you taking the time to speak with us, you're majesty." Ozpin bowed his head respectfully.

Regis waved a hand. "It's quite alright." With that, the three men went up the steps, and entered the building. Titus followed behind them alongside the white-robed man, thus leaving only the Kingsglaive and Team STRQ.

"Sooooo..." Qrow drawled. "What now?"

"Well… since you guys are here...why not a tour of Insomnia?" Nyx offered.

Summer's eyes sparked. "Ooooh, really?!" she squealed. "I wonder if they have any weapon shops?!"

"Sum," Qrow sighed, shaking his head in amusement. "Not everything is about weapons."

"Says you! To me, weapons are my life!"

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX  
**  
 **Next Time: Remnant**


	2. Chapter 2

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, and some of his new projects, such as Lagrange 111: You Are (Not) Alone, Tokyo Ghoul: A Flowered Colored Darker Than Black, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Monarch, Kill the Deadly Sin, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DC Heroes: FORGOTTEN BLOODSTAINED LEGACY, DxD: Nocturne, Project, A Tale of Three Dragons, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, and more.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _"You don't know the half of it..." Nyx shook his head as he stopped at a red light. "If we went to war, we would've lost our homes to the Nifs."_

 _Summer bit her lip. "B-but...aren't you said? L-leaving this Eos place, I mean?"_

 _"We're...still trying to cope with that," Crowe admitted. "But, at least we have our homes, and our family."_

 _Qrow shrugged at this. "Well, least you know what's important," he said before he realized something. "Wait a sec...how old are you guys?"_

 _"Pelna's 14," Nyx answered. The light turned green and he drove onward. "The rest of us are 15. There's a couple of the guys in the Glaive who are 16 and 18 too."_

 _"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DRIVING?!" Taiyang shouted, now suddenly fearing for his life despite the smooth drive._

 _Libertus cackled. "Hey, if you're old enough to fight...then you're fucking old enough to drive and drink!"_

 _"Wait, you guys drink?! That's not good!" Summer shouted._

 _"...Suddenly I don't feel as safe now..." The blonde was now gripping his seat in terror. His fear was proven as Nyx had to make a sharp turn to avoid the cat crossing the road._

 _Raven, however, was laughing. "Oh, I like you guys."_

 _"Thanks. The feeling's mutual." Crowe smiled._

 _"Oh dear god," Qrow whimpered. "Raven's found someone she can relate to. We are so fucking screwed."_

 _Pelna chuckled, liking the atmosphere. It was very nice, and everyone was being civil. That said, however, he knew better than to hope it would always be like this. These were just the first people they've met. There were many more dialogues and introductions to come, but he could at least be hopeful. He looked out the window, and smiled widely. "We're home!"_

 _Team STRQ stopped their own activities, and looked out the windows. What they say took their breath away._

 _If they thought Beacon was impressive before, then the campus back home has nothing on the sight they seeing right now._

 _Everywhere they looked, they saw crowded busy streets, tall buildings that almost appeared to be made of silver. There were several towering skyscrapers, making look almost surreal and beautiful, especially with the brilliant azure sky hanging overhead. Truly, the sights they saw were far beyond anything that could compare to whatever they had seen. Eventually, the cars pulled up in front of a large building, taller and far grander than even that of their school. Waiting for them at the steps was a man with dark hair and a beard growing on his face, bearing an already aging face, and dressed in a fine black suit with faded pinstripes. Beside him stood a man with thinning white hair, and a white beard growing on his face as well, though he was dressed in ornate white robes. The cars then parked right at the front. "Everybody out!" Nyx said. Everyone then removed themselves from the car, stepping out into the Kingdom of Lucis' capital city of Insomnia. "Ladies and gents, welcome to Insomnia."_

 _"Insomnia...like the sleep condition?" Summer tilted her head in confusion._

 _"Yep." Libertus nodded._

 _Ironwood and Ozpin, who had been Titus, vacated the car in front of Nyx's. As they did so, the man approached. "I hope the drive here wasn't too rough," he said. "Nor was there any trouble."_

 _"Oh no, nothing of the sort," Ozpin assured. "I assume your King Regis?"_

 _The man smiled, and nodded. "Regis Lucis Caelum, at your service. I take it you are Sir Ozpin?"_

 _"That is indeed correct." He then turned to his companion. "And this here is General James Ironwood of the Atlesian army."_

 _"It is an honor to meet you, you're majesty." Ironwood extended a hand in greeting._

 _Regis took his hand, and immediately noted how it seemed...cold, almost rough. "I believe we have much to discuss, gentlemen," he said, gesturing to the building. "Well then, shall we?"_

 _"We appreciate you taking the time to speak with us, you're majesty." Ozpin bowed his head respectfully._

 _Regis waved a hand. "It's quite alright." With that, the three men went up the steps, and entered the building. Titus followed behind them alongside the white-robed man, thus leaving only the Kingsglaive and Team STRQ._

 _"Sooooo..." Qrow drawled. "What now?"_

 _"Well… since you guys are here...why not a tour of Insomnia?" Nyx offered._

 _Summer's eyes sparked. "Ooooh, really?!" she squealed. "I wonder if they have any weapon shops?!"_

 _"Sum," Qrow sighed, shaking his head in amusement. "Not everything is about weapons."_

 _"Says you! To me, weapons are my life!"_

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 2: Remnant**

"...I see," Ozpin said after Regis had explained the full story to the two men. The young headmaster was seated on a comfortable chair, leaning on his cane while Ironwood sat in a wooden chair, seated next to a small round table with a tray containing a few refreshments. "I can certainly understand your decision, Your Majesty...going to war, especially knowing you would lose, is never a good thing. Truth be told, we suffered from war not too long ago ourselves. Even after 60 years, we still feel the effects."

Is that so?" King Regis quirked a brow in curiosity.

"Indeed." James nodded as he set his own cup of tea down. "During that time, it was a battle waged between all four Kingdoms of this world. Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo."

"Back in those days, the kingdoms barely kept to themselves," Ozpin stated. "Vale was considered to be the most peaceful, while others had chosen to take to advancements. In those days, Atlas was known as Mantle, was a cold place to live. They were forced to adapt by mining for Dust, Nature's Wrath given crystalized form, which was buried deep beneath. Because of this, Mantle became highly technologically advanced. More so than it's neighbors. Mistral was widely known for it's diverse culture. In fact, from theatre, to the arts, to even weaponry, all spawned from there."

James sighed. "Sadly, the same can be said about the black market. It's a haven for any with...shady backgrounds. Of course, the same can be said about Vacuo. Before the Great War, and before Mistral and Mantle got to it, it used to be rich with Dust mines, but the climate was rather harsh. Nothing but scorching hot desert, and a single oasis smack dab in the middle of it."

"And Vale was relatively as well," Ozpin said with a wide smile. "The mountain ranges are quite useful in making sure we don't have any...unsavory visitors, and the seas are too shallow for us to expect something to come out from the deep. We have tried to expand, but they've all ended in failure, sadly. Years ago, we mounted an expedition to make the Mountain Glenn settlement..."

Regis immediately knew what became of it, going by the grim looks on the two men's faces. "I assume...it ended in failure?"

"Sadly, yes."

"I see...please, continue."

Ozpin nodded. "Mistral and Mantle shared a stable relationship. In exchange for supplies that couldn't be found in the harsh icy tundras, Mantle provided the technology needed to improve daily life. Unfortunately, in those days, Mantle had begun to become...a bit too greedy."

"It isn't something anyone in Atlas is proud to admit," Ironwood said with a troubled sigh. "Years prior, Mantle had taken over the dust resources Vacuo had provided. In other words, we stripped them of their land, and took over the mines. All by force, I might add. It only got worse when we had asked for control over Mistral's resources...and because of a certain incident, Mantle had outright demanded the abolishment of the arts and self-expression."

Regis' eyes widened. "Truly? What for?"

"Sadly, to this day, what caused this is unknown," Ozpin said sadly. "Only that it served as the powder keg. Mantle believed that they could could repel the Grimm better if they kept the emotions of the people in check. We would have thought that Mistral would end their alliance then and there...but we were wrong."

James took over again. "The Emperor of Mistral had abolished the arts in the outer territories, while the upper-class in the central city could do as they pleased. Vale wasn't too happy with that, nor with their treatment of subjects, as well as the use of slave labor. Particularly, Faunus labor."

"Faunus?" Regis inquired. The two men shared a look, clearly surprised. "What are they?"

"You...do not have Faunus where you hail from?" James asked.

"I am afraid I am not sure what you mean." Regis shook his head. "I am aware of the term fauna referring to local or exotic wildlife...but based on the context of the tale, Faunus must mean something different."

"You are more or less on the mark, to some extent," the Headmaster of Beacon said. "Faunus are considered demi-humans, as they possess certain animalistic features. They range from having rabbit ears, to deer horns, to tails, to scaly skin, and other features. The tensions between humans and Faunus was...quite high. It is hard to understand the unknown, especially individuals with animal-like features. We, regrettably, treated them harshly. Some of us even enslaved them. Treated them as less than human."

"The point," James continued the conversation. "Was that Vale didn't agree with their methods. It only got worse when Mistral tried to settle on one of the unoccupied territories in Vale. Their own settlers had also found this patch of land. The King had wanted to avoid armed conflict, so the settlers tried to share the land with their neighbors...but it didn't work out. Eventually, it led to a skirmish...and the powder keg was lit. The Great War had started."

"As it quickly as it started, Mantle fought with Mistral, and so the war waged on both Sanus, the continent Vale was established on, and Anima, where Mistral was founded. Eventually, Vacuo joined the armed conflict. Years prior, Mistral and Mantle established some relations with them, and Vacuo was initially intent on remaining neutral..." Ozpin pushed up his glasses. "However, that degraded when the two countries tried to coerce Vacuo into siding with them."

James' lips tugged into a smirk. "Their response?" he said with some satisfaction. "Push Mistral and Mantle influence out of their country, and side with Vale. To them, if Vale fell, there would be nothing to stop them from conquering Vacuo next."

"I see...in a sense...the union of Mistral and Mantle created a force that was no different than the Empire of Niflheim..." Regis nodded grimly.

James nodded. "What was Niflheim like...if it's not too personal?"

The King of Lucis stared at the cup in his hands before setting it back on the saucer. He closed his eyes and sighed. He then opened them and stared at the two men, who would see the weariness in the dark, gray orbs.

"In the aftermath of the Great War of Old some two thousand years ago, Niflheim was one of four countries created from the ashes of Solheim. Solheim was a civilization that dominated Eos and was overthrown by the Astral god of fire, Ifrit. He had broken rank from the other Astrals and turned on mankind. It was a dark time then...the world was ravaged by the Starscourge, and the threat of the daemons, monstrous beasts that roamed in darkness. Aspiring to recreate the domination of the ancient civilization of Solheim, the Aldercapt family initiated its policy of expansion, declared themselves as emperors of Niflheim, and begin declaring war on neighboring countries to annex them. By M.E. 725, the entire world, bar the continent and country of Lucis and the territory of Tenebrae, was under imperial rule, although Accordo was allowed relative autonomy. The only reason why Lucis and Tenebrae remained safe was due to our strong relations and managed to repel the Empire the first time. The Emperor of Niflheim, Iedolas Aldercapt, has begun the mass production of magitek soldiers, machines imbued with magic, for the forthcoming all-out war with Lucis. Because of this, I was forced to place a barrier to protect my country. We knew not when they would come...but with each passing day, we feared their invasion." A sigh escaped him. "And the worst part was...Aldercapt was loved by his people. They saw no wrong in him. In a way, they were right. By obtaining the Crystal, one of the last ancient relics left in Eos, Niflheim would prosper under a golden age."

Both Ozpin and James were speechless by the revelation of the foreign Kingdom's past. While they were still recovering from war, Lucis had just narrowly escaped one.

"I...I see..." James said, clearly disturbed. "I...apologize if I brought up some bad memories."

"It's fine," Regis held up a hand. "Please...continue."

"R-right..." Ozpin coughed awkwardly. "Before that, we should probably explain Remnant's more...hostile wildlife. For as long as humanity can remember, ever since we were born of Dust, we have had terrors looming over us, like a blade pressed against our neck. These were creatures born of darkness, who's soul purpose was to tear all light asunder; the Creatures of Grimm. They come in many forms, but they've always been attracted to such negativity. When the war began, their attacks increased worldwide. For a short time, ceasefires were made to repel them. However, afterwards, it was back to the war. Unfortunately, those in the settlements were left helpless, with their best soldiers out to fight."

"And so cities and settlements and villages were ravaged by Grimm," James continued on heavily. "Rations on food and Dust were put into place, technologies were advanced...but it could never replace the majority of the settlements we lost on those dark days."

"..." The King could not form a proper response from the unfortunate tragedy. The people of small towns and settlements were left to their own demise as their protectors were forced to fight in a war for their respective nations, losing their homes in the process.

"In a way...there was some good," Ozpin said. "The bonds between human and Faunus became closer, though we became more efficient at destroying one another. Thankfully, it ended when Mistral and Mantle launched a military campaign on Vacuo."

"It is because of that, the people became more unified to combat the opposition."

"They believed that, if they managed to cut off their Dust and supply route, they would deal a critical blow to Vale's fighting strength. However, they weren't prepared for Vacuo's harsh and hostile desert climates." A smile formed across the headmaster's face. "And the best part is...none of them knew that the King of Vale would be there."

"The King of Vale?" Now the King of Lucis was even more interested in the historical tale. "So Vale had a monarchy as well?"

"All the Kingdoms had a monarchy," James replied. "At least, back in those days. Vale's King, despite his peaceful approach, was considered to be a warrior of high regard. Some called him the Warrior King, a title not to be taken lightly. Mantle and Mistral wanted to deal a devastating blow to Vale and Vacuo, but they never expected him to be there and lead the charge. Armed with only a sword and a scepter, he laid waste to countless men."

Ozpin finished the conversation. "Records vary about the details, some otherwise exaggerated. Grimm came not long after in droves, making it one of the deadliest and bloodiest conflicts...as well as the last. Whether it was because of harsh weather conditions or poor understanding of the land's geography, the fact remained that Mistral and Mantle had been defeated. Vacuo had bowed to the King of Vale, and so had the leaders of Mistral and Mantle. The war was finally over, and the world ready to be ruled by Vale..." The man chuckled, and pushed up his glasses. "However, the King rejected such a notion. Instead, the four leaders met on the island of Vytal, and new treaties were established. From there on, the kingdoms reformed their social statuses. Governments were reworked from the ground up, combat schools to train future generation of warriors were established, and new relations between the kingdoms were made. While the other kingdoms' monarchies were abolished, the rule of the Vale monarchy had come to an end when the King lay on his deathbed. He was the last of the royal bloodline, and so the monarchy ended with him."

"So...the Warrior King emerged victorious and had the opportunity to rule all of this world...only to refuse and instead work towards constructing a new form of leadership for each of the Kingdoms to ensure peace. A noble deed...something I can respect." Regis nodded with a small smile.

The General nodded in agreement. "An example we could all work towards."

XXXXXXXXXX

"...goddamn this food is great!" Qrow shouted as he tore into the beef. "Seriously! What is this stuff?!"

Nyx bolstered with laughter. "That, my friend, is Sabertusk sirloin beef stake. Good, am I right?"

"Eh, I say dango's better," Crowe piped as she tossed a piece of saucey dango into her mouth. "So, Raven, right? Got any good stories to tell?"

"Oh, I may have a few in mind..." The red-eyed woman responded cryptically as she took a sip of her drink.

Taiyaing shuddered. "Please, not the one about the Nevermore from Initiation...I still have nightmares about that."

"Oh, come on, what's wrong with the Nevermore story?"

"Oh, I dunno, how about the fact that WE ALMOST DIED?!"

Raven scoffed. "Your exaggerating, Tai. We were fine."

"Says you!" the blonde brawler huffed. "I had bruised for a month! Who in the hell rides a Nevermore?!"

"Hey, I got a better one for ya," Qrow smirked as he looked over his shoulder. "Did you know that my sis is actually bi?" In response to his words, everyone sans Taiyang went wide-eyed, whereas Raven stopped, face lit bright red while Summer looked scandalized. "Yep, she's into guys AND girls! And I've got the photograph to prove it!" He reached into his pocket to pull out said photo.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Raven shouted angrily as she jumped out of her seat, flew across the table, and tackled her brother to the ground. She pressed a forearm to his throat to suffocate him as she tried to trip aforementioned photo from his hands.

Sadly, this was where Qrow's Semblance manifested.

Due to the commotion she started, the table top wobbled a bit before a bolt that loosely held the brackets up popped off. As a result, the table broke into a slant, sending all the food and drink that rested on the surface spilling over the raven haired girl.

Everyone was left startled and bewildered, and Raven, drenched in steak juice and soda, could only sit there, frozen as if trying to process what just happened. Qrow, meanwhile, escaped her grip and took out the aforementioned photo, showing it to Nyx. What the man saw made his face burn red, as well as Libertus' and Tredd's.

"...fucking hell" was all that was said.

The photograph showed Summer Rose and Raven Branwen in nothing but bath towels, with the black-haired woman's looking ready to come off at any second...with her lips locked unto a clearly flustered Summer.

The males of the Kingsglaive stared at the image, then up to look at the two females of STRQ. Raven still knelt there, processing what happened, while Summer was hiding her face in her hands, her face a furious red.

"...Tai?" Libertus said as he looked at the blonde teen, who looked clearly nervous. "You've got the best fucking girlfriend ever."

"...someone kill me now," Summer whimpered, pulling her hood over her face as much as possible. "Please..."

"Aw, what's there to be shy about, Sum?" Qrow grinned. "Hey, so what if you and Rave and Tai are in a threesome?"

The poor bastard didn't even notice the killing intent crawling up his spine. When he did notice it, the Kingsglaive, plus Taiyang, were wise enough to pull back. "...Qrow, dear brother?" Raven's voice echoed with murderous intent. She slowly rose from the floor, drawing her sword. "How would you like to die?"

"...Uh...suffocated by a gorgeous woman's massive bust?" The man asked uneasily. Raven gave him a sickly sweet smile, one that sent shivers down his spine. He slowly backed away. "...uh, mercy?"

"Sorry, all out of mercy~"

XXXXXXXXXX

"So...regarding the Faunus matter," Regis said as he sat on another chair, opposing the two headmasters. "Have their social standings improved since the Great War? Or do they remain outcasts to human society?"

Ozpin and James looked at one another with slight unease in their expressions. "...It is complicated...Where there are some instances of improved relations between human and faunus, a vast majority of humans still treated Faunus as second-class citizens. Even worse, there are companies who still use Faunus for slave labor, subjecting them to dangerous work conditions for a meager sum."

"The most notable," Ozpin said tensely. "Is the Schnee Dust Corporation. They're the leading energy producers in Remnant. When Nicholas Schnee founded the company, there was hardly any trace of slave labor. In fact, the working conditions and salary were quite reasonable, if not more so...but when Jacques Schnee took over, well...let's just the company took to a more gray area."

Ironwood frowned. "Gray?" he said with tension. "Oz, Jacques runs his workers ragged. It's only gotten worse because of the extremists."

"Extremists?" Regis asked with a frown. "I take it that some Faunus...do not have a high opinion of humanity?"

The General sighed. This seemed to be a repetitive thing for this entire meeting. "While there is a group trying to bridge the gap...some Faunus just can't stand seeing humans as equals with them," he said. "When Jacques took over the SDC, when they saw how he ran the company...they were outraged. They lashed out in anger, and each time, the conditions for the working Faunus became all the more worse."

"It was a slippery slope." Ozpin shook his head. The more Faunus protested for equal rights for their brethren, the worse the work conditions grew."

"...If you don't mind me asking, if the Faunus experienced so much maltreatment in the Kingdoms, why would they not move to a different landmass to make a home of their own?" Regis asked.

"They already do." James answered. "It is an island several hundred kilometers off the coast of Lucis, a Kingdom known as Menagerie. It was given to the Faunus in the aftermath of the Great War, promising them a home to call their own. But even then, they were swindled out of the deal. The Island was small compared to the rest of the Kingdoms, and two thirds of it is uninhabitable due to the harsh inland terrain and violent wildlife. Menagerie just simply couldn't house every Faunus on Remnant, so many had to stay within the borders of the Kingdoms."

"On the other hand," Ozpin added. "Menagerie is also where a group of Faunus who want coexistence with humans also lays. The White Fang. It's relatively knew...but their impact is quite strong on most Faunus communities. Its leader, Ghira Belladonna, is still relatively young, but he's charismatic and powerful." A smile touched his lips. "Personally speaking, it is the new generation who paves the way for the future."

"I see..." Regis nodded with a shadow of a smile on his face. "That is how it has always been. Those in the current generation rise up to mold the future for those to come after."

"You sound as if you speak from experience?"

The man chuckled. "Let us just say...I wasn't exactly put on the throne late."

XXXXXXXXXX

"A new kingdom? Straight out of thin air?" Ghira Belladonna, a young cat Faunus in his mid twenties, said with obvious shock and surprise as he looked at his friend, Krimzon Taurus, with large eyes. Ghira was a burly man, wearing a dark purple jacket that came down to his waist, the sleeves armored with silver gauntlets that reached all the way to the biceps. The jacket also exposed his upper chest, which showed off a six-pack, and a few scars along the left side of his neck. Below, he wore baggy black pants and thin black shoes, bandages wrapped around his ankles. "Krim, is this actually serious?"

The Bull Faunus, a black-haired man wearing a black jacket with a hood, nodded sternly. "Quite, my friend," he said. "It appears that the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, as well as the new General of Atlas, James Ironwood, are in the midst of finding out what exactly this new kingdom is doing here. Quite frankly, I'm shocked...how could it have remained hidden for so long?"

"I do not know...heck, I'm still trying to process what you just told me." Ghira shook his head. "But I do know one thing...with a new Kingdom so close to our borders out of the blue...we cannot simply remain silent."

Krimzon cocked his head. "What do you intend to do?"

"You said Beacon's Headmaster and General Ironwood were there, right?" Ghira asked. His friend nodded. "Well, when news of their talk comes to the public...we'll make our decision then. As much as I'd like to run in there, this is completely out of the blue. We have no idea what's about to happen."

"I'm more concerned about the unusual phenomenon that happened when that kingdom appeared," the Bull said, stepping to Ghira's side. "We've heard that earthen spires have erupted from the ground, glaciers found off the shores of Vacuo, strange thunder storms, tornados spinning through the water...its troubling."

Ghira nodded in agreement. "Indeed...speaking of troubling," he turned to his aid. "What about your son, Adam? Has he...recovered?"

"...no, he hasn't," Krimzon sighed. "We knew they would be there, but..." The man grounded his teeth, anger flaring. Images of violence and blood flashed through his mind. "...it was a mistake, Ghira. We shouldn't have done a protest when those White Hood bastards were right there!"

The black-haired man's eyes softened. The incident he spoke of was a grave one. His son, Adam, who was five years old, had partaken in a protest regarding the reduced minimum wage set by the SDC. It was meant to be peaceful, nonviolent...yet as always, human violence could be so cruel. The White Hoods were at the opposite spectrum of the White Fang; if they sought coexistence, the White Hoods were more or less the antitheses.

They were a group built upon the principle of human supremacy and shut down any and all peaceful protests of the White Fang through violent means. "Putting the animals in their place"...One of their infamous mottoes.

In all honesty, Ghira wanted to show them just how dangerous these so-called 'animals' could be...but he knew that it would solve nothing. Instead, he tried to reign in that anger. It would do nothing. It would merely bring satisfaction for those trying to undermine everything that they were working for. The man let out a sigh, and stared out past the sea, where the yet unnamed Kingdom lay. Hundreds of thoughts ran through his mind, though only one was important.

"What do they think of Faunus, I wonder..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"...if the Faunus ever seek refuge here in Insomnia, or in Lucis for that matter, they are more than welcome," Regis said, face stern. "While I do not speak for my people, I am, quite honestly, appalled by the hardships these people have suffered. These individuals sought equality from your governments, and instead receive only scathing glares, and for what? Odd traits? Is that truly a reason for one to despise another? Whether or not they have different futures, are we not all inherently human? Does the same blood not run in our veins?"

"A sentiment I agree with completely, King Regis," Ozpin smirked. "I'm glad to see that you are a compassionate monarch. I do believe that concludes our reasons for coming here," He turned to Ironwood. "And you, old friend?"

The General smiled. "As a representative of Atlas, I've determined that the Kingdom of Lucis is not hostile. Far from it," he said, earning a grin from Regis and Ozpin. "If at all possible, I'd like to establish relations with Lucis, if at all possible. I understand if you don't, however, given Atlas' similarities to Niflheim."

"I would whole-heartedly accept such negotiations, provided they are within our favor," Regis said. "Shall I show you the exit?"

"Actually...there is one important matter we do need to discuss," Ozpin said. The two men looked at him. Strangely to the King, Ozpin's face was serious, eyes knit into a glare as he pushed up his glasses. "King Regis...tell me, do you believe in Fairy Tales?"

James' eyes widened. "O-Oz!"

"James, if they traveled to this world to escape conflict, then I believe it's within their interests to know what exactly hides here in Remnant," his friend said, his voice giving no room for argument. Regis was confused. What exactly did he mean by that? Fairy Tales? Well, in a way, he did...after all, the Hexatheon existed, did it not? As did the Astrals. He gave a nod, allowing Ozpin to continue. "Would you believe me if I told you that magic was also real?"

"Of that, I would," Regis nodded. He extended his hand, and felt the power of the ring on his finger stir. Light danced around in his palm, creating a blaze that was held in the palm of his hand, a feet that caused the general to stare slack-jawed at him. "Because of the Crystal, I was able to erect a barrier to protect my kingdom from invasion, however brief a time it was, and through that is the power to harness the elements. From what you have told me, Dust is similar to the Elemental Nodes here in Lucis. They harness the power of nature itself, allowing for us to drain them and use them. The Glaive also possess magic, but not to the same extent as others I have granted."

"I see..." Ozpin nodded. "Thank you for that...as you know, our world came to be called Remnant because, after the Great War, along with the arts, much of our history was forgotten. Where we came from, who we were, all of that was destroyed. Every last record...but some stories remained as mere legends. Myths. Stories told throughout the ages. They could range from a story about two gods of light and darkness to a clan of warriors, to even four maidens who could harness the powers of the seasons. What people don't know...is that they're real."

Regis raised a brow. "How can you be so sure?"

"Three pieces of key evidence, one of which is hypothetical," the man replied. "The first is the legend of the gods. Remnant, or Vytal as it was called back in the day, was created by two siblings. A god of light, and a god of darkness. The god of light created nature and animals, while the god of dark created disasters and devastation...but his most potent creation was one that sought to destroy life itself. Including the masterpiece of both himself and his kinder brother; humanity. The Creatures of Grimm were one of the last creations of that god of darkness. The second is the clan of warriors. Though they ranged from various backgrounds, hailing from different kingdoms, and born of different races, they shared two things in common. Their fighting ability, said to be the stuff of legends...and their eyes."

Regis blinked. "Their...eyes?"

"Yes." Ozpin nodded. "They all shared Silver eyes, a rare trait among Remnants inhabitants. It has been said that these beings are so mighty in battle that the Grimm cower in their wake. That a single warrior possessed the power to slay an entire horde with ease."

"Truly?" Regis asked. "And...you have one such warrior?"

Ozpin nodded again. "The leader of Team STRQ, Summer Rose. Whether or not she is aware of her heritage is unknown to me, but her prowess speaks for itself."

"I see...and the third?"

"The third was the story of an old man, and four girls..."

"An old man and four girls...?" Regis asked in confusion. What could be the significance from this tale? "Please elaborate."

Ozpin nodded, and began to explain. "The story goes that an old hermit is visited by four sisters, who each in their own unique ways are kind to him; the first, Winter, by encouraging him to meditate and reflect, the second, Spring, by bringing him fruit and flowers and revitalizing his garden, the third, Summer, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world, and the fourth, Fall, by encouraging him to be thankful for what he has. The old man gives the four sisters great powers in return for their kindness, and as the embodiment of the four seasons, they go through Remnant spreading their gifts."

"I see..." Regis hummed. "That is quite an interesting tale..."

"Indeed it is. It has been around for quite a long time." Ozpin's face grew somber. "And...very real."

"Real?" The King inquired. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean that like all fairy tales, there is some basis of truth to them. This one is no different."

James sighed. "As far as Remnant is aware, magic is...non-existent. The closest thing there is to magic is Semblance; a unique power, or a physical representation of one's soul. However, the Maidens use true magic...we've been trying to keep them secret, lest someone with questionable intentions try to use them for their own personal gain. However, there's another reason..."

"Another?" Regis frowned. "What?"

Ozpin's eyes burned, if only for a moment. "To protect them...from one who would want to destroy the peace we've had for nearly sixty years. A woman who wants nothing more than see it burn."

"So there is someone who despises this world enough to desire its destruction?" Regis leaned forward in his chair to listen intently. "...Do you have any other information about her?"

"Only her name," Ozpin replied grimly. "The witch who commands even the Grimm...Salem."

XXXXXXXXXX

Elsewhere, far away and hidden from the eyes of the world, in a landscape left ruined and stained with black muck, roamed by giant creatures with fur colored ashen black, a single woman stood out from the balcony, her form timeless. Her complexion was deathly white, even whiter than her hair, which was formed into a bun with six offshoots from which black ornaments were suspended from. Her skin was covered in tortuous, deep red and purple veins that run up her arms and face. The sclerae of her eyes were jet black and her irises glowed red. A black, diamond shaped marking was seen on the center of her forehead. She was clad in a very long black robe with red designs resembling eyes. A ring resembling a bug was seen on her right index finger.

Next to her was a small, jellyfish-like entity. Its body was small and spherical, colored black as the rest of the monstrous creatures. It was covered in bone-like plates with red tentacles hanging from its base. In the center of the body was a single, glowing, yellow eye.

"...I see," the woman said, her voice cold enough to make any brave man feel a chill down their spine. "A kingdom that appeared out of nowhere, and so close to Menagerie...interesting."

The Seer's eye blinked as it slowly floated away from her and back into the massive building behind her. The woman turned to face the night sky and stare at the shattered moon.

This was something that had taken her by surprise. She had seen many things in the time she was alive...but a kingdom appearing so suddenly? And so close? It was unheard of. Currently, she knew nothing, other than that Ozpin and a newly appointed general of the Altesian Military were currently at that unknown country, speaking with its leaders. She was curious, however. How long as this place remained hidden from her? Who were they? Would they be an ally? An enemy? "Mistress," a young voice called out. She turned, and found a young man stepping unto the balcony. His skin was tanned, his black hair neatly combed, sharp green eyes, and dressed in a fine gray suit with dark blue trims, a yellow tie around his neck, and a dark blue dress shirt underneath. "It seems that little girl you found is awake now."

"I see," the woman smiled as she turned. "Thank you, Watts."

The man smirked, bowing. "Think nothing of it...though I must confess, I am curious. What is this I hear of a new landmass appearing close to Menagerie?"

"It is as you said..." She confirmed his thoughts. "Apparently, a new Kingdom appeared from a pillar of light that formed several hundred kilometers off the coast of Menagerie. And with it's conception, destructive weather phenomena occurred. Glaciers in Vacuo, Earth Spires on every continent, raging thunderstorms, and destructive hurricanes and water twisters."

The man, Arthur Watts, stroked his chin, clearly interested. "Hm...I doubt such destructive weather is not without deaths."

"Indeed...some lives were lost because of the unusual weather phenomenon. I imagine that some will direct their sorrow, loss, and rage at this kingdom, given that its appearance was what caused it." A cruel smile formed on her face. "Humanity has always been that way...especially with an unknown in sight."

Watts gave a cruel smile. "I feel rather insulted, Mistress," he said. "When you say humanity, I feel as if you're including me in that bunch as well."

"Of course, I am referring to the general existence of humanity, people like you and Hazel are the very few I've come to respect."

"I am honored."

"Regardless," the woman said as he turned, walking past him and into the castle. "I'd like to keep an eye on the situation. Now...about that girl."

Watts chuckled. "A fiery little brat...though I see why you would take an interest in her."

"Indeed...has she given her name yet?"

"Fall. Cinder Fall."

XXXXXXXXXX

"...jesus, Raven's terrifying," Libertus said as he shook his head, having taken a seat at one of the stools up by the bar. "I seriously thought she was gonna kill the poor guy!"

Crowe snorted. "Don't blame her," she said hotly. "I mean, what kind of asshole tells a bunch of strangers you just met that your sister is bisexual?"

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Nyx gave his two cents, ordering for them. "I mean, we've got a couple of girls in the Glaive who don't exactly favor us menfolk...not that I blame 'em, if the guys they've had trouble with had a mug as ugly as Libertus."

The pudgy teen glared at his friend, even though he knew it was meant in jest. "Oh, hardy har har, Nyx!"

"Still, kind of sad they have to leave tomorrow," Pelna said with a smile. "They were funny."

"Well, at least we'll see them off," the female of the group said. "Personally, I'm gonna miss Raven. She's awesome."

Libertus rolled his eyes. "Of course you would..."

"Well, she did enjoy the fact that Raven beat the shit out of her brother." Tredd responded with a shrug.

"Touche."

"So," Nyx looked over at the other two Glaives. "How was your escort?"

"Quiet as hell," Tredd deadpanned. "I mean, dude! I try to make a small talk, and all we get is dead silence!" He gestured his head over to Luche, who was eating into his order of ramen noodles. "That Ironwood guy and Luche said absolutely nothing like they were made for each other, and that headmaster just sat there, drinking his coffee! It was maddening!"

"And Commander Titus?"

Tredd gave them a look. "...really Ulric? Really?"

"What?" he held up his hands in defense. "Just asking,"

"The negotiations seemed to have gone well," Luche said, taking a quick drink. "Though I overheard something interesting as they were talking."

The others leaned in. "What'd you hear?" Crowe asked. "Something good?"

"Apparently, there are sub-humans in this place. They're called Faunus from what I've heard...and they don't exactly have a good social standing with average humans."

Tredd blinked. "Faunus?" he parroted. "So, what? They're like humans with animal features or something?"

"Based on what I heard, yes." Luche nodded. "They make up just about half the population on this planet, yet many humans still treat them like second class citizens. They subject many of them to slave labor, and crammed a lot of them on an island not too far from Lucis where only a third of it is inhabitable."

"Wait, seriously?" Crowe gawked. "Damn, that's harsh..."

Luche sighed. "Knowing the King, he'll probably try and establish some kind of relations. Wouldn't be surprised if he welcomed them here."

"And knowing some of the more racist assholes here, they won't be happy," Libertus growled. "You know those bastards are still raising a stink? We're out here, in a freaking new world, and they're bitching about immigrants!"

Tredd scoffed. "Well, what do you expect, Lib? To them, we're just rats who snuck inside, and started nibbling away at the King's power."

"Maybe," Nyx sighed. "But...that doesn't mean it has to be like that. But, enough about that." A smile soon formed on his face, and raised his glass. "Here's to a new world, and a new future for Lucis! For Hearth and Home!"

Crowe, Pelna, and Libertus raised their glasses with Nyx, with Luche and Tredd soon following. "For Hearth and Home!"

.

.

.

.

.  
 **  
Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Conference  
**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Disclaimer: Before you all question at us, yes...the White hood is an added group. And before you all say that it is unnecessary, the reason why we added them in the first place is because of Lucis' presence. As you all have seen in this chapter, King Regis desires to treat Faunus equally. And since it is early in the RWBY timeline, that means the White Fang is still a peaceful protest group led by Ghira. If they form friendly relations, there wouldn't be a reason for the White Fang to change to a terrorist group it is presently because the Faunus will be at ease knowing that they have a Kingdom that treats them as equals. Sure there will be the radical few that desire the complete obliteration of humanity, but they wouldn't have as much influence because a Majority of Faunus would accept Lucis. That is where the White Hoods come in. They are the group that exists to spur on the hate and resentment within the Faunus Community to force them to rise up as an antagonist group.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 3: Conference**

"You know, I think I'm going to miss this place," Summer said as she and her team walked through the streets of Insomnia with the Kingsglaive. "I mean, how often do you get to explore a place like this?"

"Yeah, I'm with you there, Sum." Qrow nodded in agreement. "How many can say that they were the first ones to step foot into a Kingdom that sprang up out of nowhere?"

Nyx chuckled. "Well, not many," he said. "Still, kind of sad that you guys are leaving. I mean, you were here for only a week."

"Well, technically speaking," Raven brought up. "It was just for formality and negotiations...I do have to agree with you, though," A fond smile formed on her face. "I am going to miss this place. Who knows? Once things settle down, we can come here again."

"Hell, I'm all for it," Taiyang nodded in agreement. "I just hope the other kingdoms greet Lucis the way we have."

"Well, I doubt it. I can probably see Vacuo, Menagerie, and Mistral being some of the friendlier greetings. But the pricks back at Atlas? No chance." Qrow shook his head.

"Is that opinion just based on the General?" Summer asked with a frown. "Because if so, then that's just being biased."

The scythe-wielder shrugged. "Well, there's Jimmy to a lesser extent...and then there's Jackass."

Nyx frowned. "Jackass?" he asked. "That your pet name for someone?"

"He means Jacques Schnee," Raven clarified. "He's the CEO of the Schnee Dust Corporation...which isn't exactly known for its Faunus treatment."

"Faunus Treatment? Are you talking about poor work conditions?"

"More like slavery. They put them to dangerous work mining Dust for a meager sum of money." Qrow scoffed.

Libertus nearly did a spittake, whipping around with wide eyes. "Slave labor?!" he said with a near snarl. "Bloody hell! And someone like that is running a company?!"

"Well, when he took over the business, Jacques made the SDC quite successful," Raven informed them. "Though said actions left the company in a, how shall we say, morally gray area?"

"More like Morally dark gray, like the hair color he used to have the month before he took over." Taiyang added.

Crowe snorted in disgust. "Sounds like Atlas has a couple of dicks."

"You don't know the half of it..." Qrow shook his head. "There is a reason why Atlas was known to be a power hungry nation during the War."

"Except that was then, and this is now," Summer said. "Anyway, we're supposed to leave in a couple of hours, right? What should we do until then?"

"I'm not really sure...we pretty much covered all of the sights here in Lucis..." Libertus rubbed the back of his head.

Pelna crossed his arms, dipping his head in thought. "Hm...maybe we could have a spar?" The group looked at him. "W-what? Just a suggestion."

"...You know..." Nyx began. "...That's actually a pretty good idea. I mean, we never really got to see each other in action."

Raven smirked. "You sure?" she asked, clearly confident. "We're pretty tough."

"Well, almost all of us," Qrow said, sneaking a glance at Summer. "Sum can't really fight."

"What?! Hey, I can-"

"Short stuff, you broke your weapon, remember? And even Tai said you can't fight with your bare hands for crap...no offense."

"Tai..." Summer turned to the blonde member of the team and pouted.

"Sorry, Summer." He raised his hands in defense. "But it's kinda the truth. You're unarmed combat abilities are...well, they kinda suck."

The red-eyed member of the group scoffed. "More like non-existent. Face facts, Summer...you rely too much on weapons."

"Not you too, Raven..." She whined.

Libertus laughed. "Sounds a lot like Pelna, then!"

"W-what?!" the dark-skinned boy cried. "W-what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Hey, it's the truth! Remember when you first did a Warp?" he laughed. "You were vomiting buckets!"

"H-Hey! Motion sickness is a much more common problem than people realize!" The boy defended. "I mean, we're literally teleporting from place to place! How would that NOT be disorienting?!"

Crowe smirked. "I didn't have any problems."

"Neither did we..." Tredd and Luche shook their heads.

Pelna hung his head low, feeling slight shame. Seriously?! Was he the only one?!

Libertus patted him on the shoulder in a consoling manner.

"So..." Nyx decided to get back on topic. "About that spar..."

"Hm...why not keep it three on three?" Raven suggested. "After all, Summer's weapon is still being repaired, and you have more guys. Fair's fair, right?"

Luche nodded in agreement. "Alright then," he turned to Nyx and Crowe. "Nyx, Crowe, feel up for it?"

"Hell yeah," the female Glaive smirked. "I'm down."

Nyx smiled somewhat, taking out one of his kukri's. "Sure."

"Then it's settled," Qrow chuckled. "So...you guys know any good open spaces?"

"We've got one in mind."

XXXXXXXXXX

"...as been less than ten hours since the appearance of the new kingdom off the coast of Menagerie, and we now have official reports of this mysterious new country. The kingdom of Lucis, led by its monarch, Regis Lucis Caelum, had chosen to take refuge here in Remnant in order to escape conflict with another kingdom known as Niflheim, which occurred in their world of Eos. New reports are steadily flowing in, while the Headmaster of Beacon Academy and representative of Vale, Ozpin, and the representative of Atlas, the newly stated General James Ironwood, continue with talks in order to ascertain the intentions of this new kingdom." The news reporter announced as the broadcast was being transmitted across all the kingdoms.

As per the case with any new event, media had always found a way to leak out. However, because of the nature of this incident, information had to be carefully regulated and monitored. In this case, only information that was proven to be fact by both Ozpin and Ironwood was distributed. This information was also the first to be broadcasted globally, an incident never happening before, which only showed how grand the event was. It was even being broadcasted in Menagerie. Though their technical advancements haven't truly increased much, they still had access to media and other information. Trade routes were also established, though nowhere near as strong as other merchant products. It was yet another sign of racism, though they managed to live with it.

"Another world? Are you kidding me?"

"Well, does explain the weird shit that happened when that light showed up."

"I dunno...sounds fishy if you ask me."

"Who cares about that?! What do these guys think about the Faunus?!"

The reactions varied. Some wondered about their technological advancements. Some wondered about the authenticity of this information. Some wondered how this monarchy treated their subjects. Some wondered how they treated Faunus.

Ghira, however, was intrigued. "A kingdom from another world?" he muttered to himself. "That is...hard to believe, though given what happened when it appeared, I suppose it is not within reason to believe that."

"Indeed." Krimzen nodded in agreement. To think that the landmass originated from a foreign realm. It is almost like a plot element from a fairy tale. "This changes quite a lot," The Bull Faunus said, holding a hand to his chin. "If these reports are true...can there really be Faunus?"

"Only one way to find out, old friend," Ghira responded. "For now...all we can do is wait, and see what these strangers' intentions here in Remnant are. I would sooner know more than simply a few reports of them fleeing from a war."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, here are the rules. No serious injuries, we keep it fair and easy. Last thing we need is to explain why we're so banged up. Also, if your opponent forfeits, you stop immediately. The match ends when one of us gives." Libertus announced, as the three selected fighters of Team STRQ and the Kingsglaive faced one another. "Understood."

"Okay. Now for the first match, we have Luche vs Taiyang!"

The blonde Kingsglaive cracked his neck before unholstering the firearm strapped to his side and a foot long dagger.

"You ready?" Taiyang questioned as he fell into a fighting stance.

"Ready when you are." Luche grinned as he twirled his gun.

Libertus looked at the two from his spot near the edge. "Are our combatants ready?" he called out. Rather than answer or give a nod, the two warriors glared back at each other with fierce intensity. "Alright then...GO!"

With that shout, the two charged at each other.

Taiyang went in to start with a right hook to the face, but Luche evaded it by backpedaling in the last second. He then raised his gun and aimed it at the brawler's stomach before pulling the trigger.

The bullet struck him, forcing him back a bit. "Ow!" Taiyang frowned. Though his Aura had healed him, he still felt the bullet's impact. It was also strange, almost like a ball of flame had blown at his stomach. "The heck?"

"Elemental bullets," Luche answered. "Never leave home without 'em. Have to say, I'm impressed. Seems this 'aura' thing is rather handy. That should have knocked you out flat and paralyzed you."

"Yeah, well...Aura is much sturdier than you guys think. Got it hand it to ya though...the fact that you all can use magic of all things took us for a loop." He replied, shaking off the prior damage.

Luche chuckled. "Well, you can thank His Majesty for that," he responded. He then threw his dagger at him. The blade was spinning through the air, intending to strike at the brawler. He ducked his head to the side, evading it, though he was caught off guard when Luche's body vanished, and reappeared right next to him, holding the dagger while smoke and ash danced off his body, whirling in mid-air to deliver a heel strike to the back of the head.

The brawler stumbled before catching himself and standing back up. He crossed his arms to block the round house kick Luche followed up with. The Glaive used this moment and pointed his gun to the ground beneath Taiyang's feet. He pulled the trigger and a fiery explosion erupted from the impact.

The blast caused him to backpedal, giving Luche the opportunity to charge forward with his knife reared back.

Taiyang barely had enough time to regain his bearings before realizing what happened next. He swung the blade, intent on striking his opponent in the throat. The fighter saw this and leaned backward, enough so that the tip of the blade nearly missed him. Taking the fact that Luche was now wide open, Taiyang steeled himself and rammed his knee into his side.

He let out a grunt of pain, feeling like he had just been struck by a sledgehammer. Taiyang struck like a truck, hard and heavy. 'This is going to be tough,' he noted as he dodged a punch that would have clocked out his light. He threw his dagger behind him, and immediately warped away, gaining some distance. He needed to think this through. He needed to be calm, try and calculate how this would go.

He was armed with a gun filled with elemental bullets and a foot long dagger while his opponent was proficient in hand to hand combat. His best bet would be to use his firearm and attack from a distance, but he would eventually run out of ammunition, and who knows if the brawler's aura would recede before then.

Taiyang rolled his shoulders while cracking his neck. "What? That all you got?"

"Heh...Hardly." Luche replied with a smirk. A plan was now set into place. He removed the cartridge of bullets from his gun and replaced it with another from his belt.

He flipped his dagger around, and then braced himself for another charge.

The fighter grinned as he raised his hands in a defensive stance.

The two charged at each other again, only this time Luche decided to show off his acrobatic skills. While they had only been in the Glaive for about nearly a year now, they had developed the necessary combat skills, constantly sparring and training against each other to improve. In terms of ability, leadership, and skill, Luche was the best. It was why he was named the second-in-command, should the General disappear for whatever reason.

He vaulted over a hook that would have sent him flying, and as soon as he touched the ground, he spun on his heel and slashed at his back, followed by a shot to the skull. Unlike before, Taiyang felt like he had just been hit by a bolt of lightning to the back of his head.

The blast of electricity was stopped from leaving lasting damage due to his Aura, but the shock momentarily stunned him.

Luche took advantage of this. He delivered a roundhouse kick to his back, knocking him back.

The brawler stumbled and fell face first to the ground. Slowly, he pulled himself back up and shook off the remaining electricity from his system.

He quickly turned back to Luche, and slammed his fists together. Then he charged, spiraling around on the ball of his foot to increase the momentum of his punch. The Glaive blocked it, but felt his arms burn in pain. He parried it, and swung his knife, only for Taiyang to lean back and then slam his forehead against Luche's. The resulting collision caused him to backpedal, clutching his head and leaving him open for a right hook.

The brawler then followed with an uppercut, stunning the Glaive before proceeding with a series of alternating strikes across the face.

Luche tried his best to dodge, but Taiyang was faster. MUCH faster. He gritted his teeth, and ducked underneath one strike, lowering in for a leg sweep. Rather than jump, Taiyang performed three backflips, gaining some needed distance between them. Luche decided to kick things up a notch and throw his dagger. He warped in sync with it, and came in fast, delivering a flying lariat.

Taiyang choked as the arm struck right into his Adam's apple, leaving him a gasping mess. The Kingsglaive grabbed the man by the shirt and tossed him over his shoulder before pinning him to the ground with a knee on his chest, his gun pointed at his forehead, and the dagger to his throat.

"...give up?"

Taiyang stared back. Lilac eyes simply glared in defiance, though it soon crumbled, and sighed. "...give." Luche smiled, and removed himself from Taiyang, holstering his weapons and offering a hand. Taiyang took it, and pulled himself up. "Man, if anyone at the Academy hears I lost to a KID, I will never live it down."

"Too late for that," Qrow smirked. "Oh, the blackmail material..."

"Screw you, Qrow."

"And who the hell are you calling a kid?" Luche swatted his shoulder in a joking manner. "You're only a year older than me."

Libertus laughed. "Well, that's one fight done. Who's up ne-"

"Well, this is a surprise," a commanding voice spoke. Instantly, every Kingsglaive in the arena suddenly snapped into attention, and turned to face the imposing form of Titus Dautos. "I decide to take a break, like His Majesty, suggested, and here I find my men fighting with our guests."

Pelna paled. This was bad...he should have known this would have happened. He needed to explain this situation properly. He couldn't let everyone get in trouble, just because the sparring thin was all his idea. "W-we're sorry, sir, b-but I-"

"At ease, Pelna," Titus raised a hand, a slim smile on his face. "I know a friendly spar when I see one. It's a good idea, though. There's no such thing as getting to know your opponents, whether they're your enemies or allies." He then turned to Taiyang. "Speaking of which, that was some excellent form. You shrugged off those hits like they were nothing. I assume that most Huntsmen are this capable?"

Taiyang blushed somewhat, unused to having someone praise him in such a manner. He couldn't help but scratch the back of his head. "Y-yes...but their skill depends on them, Mr. Dautos."

"Either way, it's quite impressive," he praised. "Wish I had more men like you in the Glaive."

Nyx laughed. "Ouch, sir...that hurts, really."

"Well, you can't deny that we are a bit undermanned..." Tredd shrugged. They were all immigrants from Lucian territories that enlisted in the Kingsglaive not too long ago, the reason why they were selected out of the many that tried to join was because of their skill and potential. When it comes to protecting their Kingdom, their homes, it was about quality over quantity.

"I know, but it still kind of stings."

Titus grunted. "Well, as much as I'd like to see what else our guests can do, I'm afraid we'll have to cut this spar short. Nyx, Crowe, the two of you are to report to command. We're heading out."

The Glaives blinked, and looked at each other in confusion. Were they being sent out? Crowe spoke up. "Do we have a mission?"

"Call it making headway," came the response. "Ozpin and General Ironwood are going to release a public statement to their respective kingdoms after they've returned home. As for us, we're going on an escort mission. We're heading Menagerie."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ghira Belladonna, while perhaps a bit too hearty for his own good, is a good ally to have," Ozpin said as he, Regis, and Ironwood made their way to the entrance of the embassy, where the cars tasked with escorting them back to their airships waited. "Although, I am surprised. Acting so early?"

Regis shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes, it is best to act swiftly," he answered. "That, and I wish to see Menagerie for myself, if what you've told me is true."

The King had been wanting to meet with the Faunus ever since they were brought up in their first meeting. He wanted to ensure them that if they ever needed an ally or a home, then they would be welcomed in Lucis.

That, and it was always good to establish connections. For as long as these people have known, they've been beaten, spit on, and abused by those whom they wanted equality with. The information that he had learned from the two men was indeed valuable, especially regarding the one called Salem. However, these people knew nothing of Lucis. None of what they did, or what they could do, or how they treated others. This did leave room for negotiations, though at the same time, many would be suspicious of their motives.

Hence, it was best to act in a fast and timely manner.

It would be best to meet with them and speak of their own intentions personally rather than having their motives tainted by rumors.

He only hoped that the people of Lucis could accept the Faunus. He knew full well that those of Insomnia did not take kindly to the immigrants, regardless if they were apart of the Kingsglaive, but he still wished for the best. It was always a good idea to look at the brighter things in life before coming to reach that point in time. In the meantime, there was quite a bit to prepare. Soon, they left the building, leading to the staircase and to the cars. Already, two members of the Glaive, including Titus, and those who belonged to Headmaster Ozpin's party, Team STRQ, were waiting outside.

"I see everyone is accounted for." King Regis smiled.

"We are ready when you are, your majesty." Titus and the members of the Glaive bowed.

Ozpin smiled. "I see you work fast," he noted before looking at his students. "I hope your time in Insomnia was eventful, Team STRQ."

"Oh, you better god DAMN believe it, Oz," Qrow laughed. "Remind me to come back here during vacation!"

Raven rolled her eyes. "I can't tell if he means the food, the women, or just the fact that he can goof off," she wondered aloud, mostly to spite her sibling, before smiling. "We did have a good time, though."

"Yeah. It was a blast...can't say the same for the bruises though..." Taiyang grimaced as he rolled his shoulders.

"I kinda wish we could continue our spar though...I wanted to ask Luche about elemental bullets." Summer pouted in disappointment.

Nyx chuckled, patting the hooded girl on the head. "Don't worry, I'll see if I can pull some strings."

"Wait, seriously?! YES!"

Ironwood quirked an eyebrow while Ozpin and Regis smiled. Already, friendship was blooming between Huntsmen and Glaive...who could say that the same could happen between the kingdoms?

"I've already contacted the crew at Galdin Quay, Your Majesty," Titus informed. "They're preparing the airships for our guests as we speak, as well as our own...though we did receive a rather unusual call."

Regis raised an eyebrow. "A call?"

"Yes, Your Majesty...apparently someone from the cafe wanted to speak with you. He said his name was Cid."

The King's face became one of surprise. "Cid? Well...that is indeed unusual...I've never expected for him of all people to call..."

"A friend of yours?" Ironwood asked.

"More than that, Mr. Ironwood...far more than that."

XXXXXXXXXX

Cid Sophiar was some might call a rude wrench monkey with a sharp mouth, and a heart of gold.

But to everyone else...he was one hell of a damn good mechanic. Some may even say that he was the best in the Kingdom.

But to a select few...he was a brother in all but blood.

Those who knew that fact best were Clarus Amicitia, Weskham Armaugh, and of course, Regis Lucis Caelum.

In the past, back during the days when Niflheim was still being a greedy arse rather than full on conquering tyrant, Lucis and Accordo fought to defend the countries. Some say that was when the war truly began, others disagree. Regardless, when the battle was over, Cid and Regis had drifted apart, as had the rest of the group. Clarus and Regis returned to Insomnia, while Weskham went to Altissa, supposedly to start his own restaurant. Cid, meanwhile, set up shop near the Duscae region, and started his own business. Hammerhead Mechanics, the best place to get any car repaired. He even upgraded and repaired weapons for Hunters on the side.

It had been a long time since he had seen Regis, not since they're falling out. He was still a bit sore that he wasn't invited to his coronation, but didn't hold it against his friend. Hell, he was pretty sure it was justified, given how much of an ass he was back when things went to hell. After a while though, he and Regis started to get back in touch, though they had yet to see each other again. For a while, though, Cid had been meaning to meet with that stubborn old king pal of his.

Then, imagine his surprise, when he heard that the guy was planning something big. VERY big. He was actually going to take Lucis away to someplace safe, someplace where Niflheim couldn't reach them. At first he was skeptical, but Regis had sent him a letter about the whole thing. Sylvia, bless her soul, had actually found a way to make the impossible possible; by using the Crystal, the country would be taken away to a new world. He could hardly believe it.

And yet...the proof was here, at Galdin Quay.

He looked over the horizon and saw unfamiliar oceans and landmasses out in the distance. Sights that he had long since gotten used to were no longer there. Regis had actually done it.

"Reggie, you sly son of a bitch," Cid murmured with a smile. Already close to fifty, and because of the stress from his job, despite what others may tell you, his brown hair was beginning to develop brown streaks. Most of his hair was hidden by his brown cap, and still had his trademark neon yellow jacket, which was now the staple jacket of Hammerhead Repairs. Underneath, he wore a red shirt with a high collar, along with dark gray cargo jeans, plus leather working boots. Over his hands, he wore worn-out leather gloves, stained with oil and grease. "You just never know when to stop giving me a goddamn heart attack, and I'm not even in my fifties yet dammit."

While he was happy about the situation, he couldn't help but feel worried. Being in a new world would certainly present some dangerous new situations, some more worrisome than others. Hostile neighbors, people who wouldn't take too kindly to unknowns, and so on. He was glad that Weskham was here, though. A few days before Regis had done it, the man had come around to visit him, hoping to catch up. He had decided to take a break from his work, since things had grown quite amicable over there in Altissa, namely due to the threat of Niflheim being so close at hand. He knew that Weskham was still in Lucis when Regis had brought them here, but Cid hoped that his friend's business came with them.

At any rate, Cid had also developed a curious sense as to what sort of technology the folks in this new world had. Working around machines tends to make a wrench monkey like him develop a sort of interest in this kind of thing. Hell, he was already interested while he looked at those aircrafts.

"So, these things are called Bulkheads?" he asked the pilot, who was sitting around waiting for some guy called Ozpin to get back. "What do they run on?"

"Mostly Dust Energy," the pilot replied. "And no, not the DUST dust. I mean Dust, a crystal with elemental properties. Some guys call it Nature's Wrath. Me? I call it energy in a gem." He rapped his knuckles against the frame of the aircraft. "These babies run on fifty lightning crystals. Best part, you don't have to replace them, but you gotta check up regularly. If one of those things is cracked, well...let's just say you might end up turning into a fireball."

"So this Dust stuff is highly volatile...is what you're saying?"

"Yessir." The pilot nodded. "See, there are two states of Dust known to man, powder form and crystal form. We mainly use crystals to power our vehicles, and the powder variety for weapons. Both pack one hell of a punch, but the powdered stuff is even more volatile than the crystals. Even something simple as a sneeze is enough to detonate that kinda of stuff."

Cid couldn't help but whistle. "Damn...stuff sounds difficult to handle."

"Tell me about it. Hell, I remember this one guy back home..." he stopped in mid-sentence, however, as the two heard the sounds of a car engine slowly approaching.

The mechanic looked over to the approaching vehicle and let out a smirk. "Well now...looks like the guest of honor has arrived." He then turned to the pilot. "I gotta go, it was nice talking with ya, son."

"You too, old man," the pilot replied with a smirk of his own. Cid scowled somewhat. Dammit, he wasn't THAT old yet.

The cars pulled up in the parking lot, backing into the designated spots before the engines ceased. The car doors then opened, reveal several individuals stepping out of it. Six of them he didn't recognized, no doubt the natives of this new world, while he recognizes a few of them. Three of them were dressed in the attire of the Kingsglaive, so he knew they were Regis' men, while the fourth was a face that definitely looked better than how the papers showed him. His black hair was longer, and his look definitely befitting that of a king, yet that worn face of the man he fought alongside with was still there.

"Well, ain't you a sight for sore eyes!" Cid called out as he walked up to the King, grinning like a fool. "Looking good, Reggie!"

"And you as well, Cid." The King of Lucis smiled jovially, extending forth a hand.

The wrench monkey gladly shook hands with his old friend. Meanwhile, the newcomers looked on in curiosity. "An old friend of yours, King Regis?" Ozpin asked.

"More like a brother, Headmaster," he replied before introducing him. "This is Cid Sophiar, an old comrade of mine from my days as a prince."

Cid tipped his head to the gentlemen, as well as the four youngsters behind them. "Pleasure to meet ya."

"It is nice to meet you as well." Ozpin nodded.

"Likewise." Ironwood greeted politely.

Qrow raised a hand, two fingers outstretched. "Sup, old man?" He was promptly smacked upside the head. "OW!"

"Qrow, that's rude!" Summer snapped. "Don't call someone you just met an old man!"

"Well, he is." Qrow rebutted, and was promptly greeted with an elbow jabbed in his side. "Ow!"

"Shut up, already." Raven hissed

Cid raised an eyebrow. "...you're a real glutton for punishment, ain't ya?"

"Meh, it's just a habit." The teenager shrugged.

Taiyang sighed. "Yeah, a habit that winds up with you getting your ass kicked."

"Like how you got your ass kicked not too long ago?" Qrow snarked back.

"Hey, at least it was by a fellow dude, and not a girl," the brawler shot back with a smirk. "Well, girls that aren't Summer or Raven. They beat your ass on a regular basis."

"Hey!"

"You know it's true!"

Cid smirked. "Hah, this brings back memories," he said before looking at Regis. "So, how's King been doing for ya?"

"Stressful." Regis summed his experience up in a single word. "...but not unwelcome."

"I'd imagine. Being a King ain't as easy as they crack it up to be," he said before moving on to another topic. "So, what's the plan for you now? We're in a brand-spanking new world, and looks to me like you've already got two people from here on your side."

Regis nodded. "Indeed...right now, I'm heading to go meet with the chieftan of a small island called Menagerie. From what I understand, his people suffer from prejudice, and the land he was given is only partially inhabitable. The rest is naught but hostile wildlife."

"Yeesh...sounds like a mess," he commented before grinning. "Mind if I go with?" That response surprised the king, as well as the inhabitants of Remnant. This man wanted to come along? What for? It seemed like he was well acquainted with Regis, but some of them couldn't help but feel suspicious. "Oh, come on now. I've been meaning to wake up these bones for a while! You think I want to be cooped up inside my garage all day, working on pieces of junk someone brings in? Even I need to get out once in a while!" A pause. "...that, and not listen to my daughter's goddamn nagging."

"...Heh...so that is your real excuse, is it not?" Regis cracked an amused grin.

"Oh, piss off," Cid grumbled. "You try having to deal with a thirty-year old girl who keeps telling you that you need to eat healthy, take a bath every now and then, take a load off, and the rest of the griping! Its worse when my own son-in-law gets involved too!"

Regis chuckled. "Well, at least my wife isn't like that, although she does tell me to take it easy."

"Well, given how you're running an entire kingdom...you probably should listen to her every once in a while before you break down. I mean, you don't really have any need to hold up the barrier now, do ya?"

"Perhaps...hah, truth be told, somehow it feels like a weight's been lifted on my shoulders," Regis smiled fondly. "At any rate...it's good to see you again, old friend. If you wish to come with, I have no objections."

The wrench monkey grinned widely. "Hah! Music to my ears, Reggie!"

The rest of the group smiled at the scene, the conversation between two old friends.

To Ozpin, it greatly reminded him of the conversations he and James used to have, back when they were but mere students, along with Glynda. She had graduated from Beacon Academy the same year as them, all at the top of their class at that. Speaking of which, he had received a call from her a while back. After being out in the field for a few years, she was now seeking a position at the Academy as a teacher. He would have to give her a call and ask her more about that...after all, it never hurt to have an extra hand on deck.

XXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Ozpin and Ironwood, along with Team STRQ, were on their way homes, they had delivered news of what they had learned back via Scroll communications to their respective kingdoms. Instantly, with approved and official information, the news spread across Remnant faster than a wildfire could ever hope to accomplish. This information included the kingdom's structure, how it was run, the people and its technological advancements, social standing, and so on.

As each second passed, more and more people across Remnant learned more details about the new Kingdom.

For starters, the kingdom had mobile and aerial means of transportation, as well as a city that seemed to be made of silver. They were capable of harnessing magic through Nodes scattered through Lucis, which could be considered the equivalent to Dust mines. However, only the Royal Family and those they bestowed their magic to could wield this magic, and the power to harness the Nodes. Their lands were incredibly expansive and large, surpassing any of the Four Kingdoms by a margin. In fact, the Duscae Region alone could rival Atlas in size. They also had ample access to many resources. In terms of hostile wildlife, they had a great variety, including nightly beasties called Daemons. There were also creatures called Chocobos, which could only be described as absurdly large chicken-like beings that could outrun even the swiftest of men. However, the greatest shock came in a single factor:

The Kingdom of Lucis had no Faunus.

It was a surprising factor to everyone, Faunus especially. A kingdom where there was not a single one of their kind? What world did they come from?

Ghira, however, found himself conflicted. On one hand, this served as an opportunity. If he spoke with the leadership, or rather the monarchy of Lucis, perhaps he could somehow convince them that Faunus were not the subhumans people made them out to be. On the other hand, he felt worried. Would Lucis consider them as such? Mere animals? Would they be as bad as the White Hoods? God, he hoped not. Those maniacs have caused enough trouble for the Faunus as it is. The last thing he needed was a kingdom full of them.

"No Faunus?" Krimzen gawked. "At all?! Incredible...!"

"I know..." The massive man nodded. "TO think such a thing was possible..."

"Ch-chief!" Suddenly, the doors to the Belladonna residence were thrown open, revealing the panting form of a member from the White Fang. "C-chief Ghira!"

The burly man turned, eyes knit closely. "What is it?" he barked. "What's the matter?!"

"W-we just received a message from someone from Lucis! They're requesting an audience with you!"

"What?!" Both Ghira and Krimzen stood up in surprise. The people of Lucis wish to communicate with them? For what reason?

The two men shared a look. Whatever it meant...it was definitely one of significance. Ghira turned to the man, and gave a nod. "Tell them I accept," he told him. "And be sure to have an escort. I have other matters to attend to at the moment." The man let out a nod, and ran back outside. As he did, Ghira looked out the window. Somehow, he could feel it. The future was beginning to shape up...whether it was for better, or for worse, he didn't know.

For the time being...he could only hope the coming storm would be one without consequences.

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Faunus**


	4. Chapter 4

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 4: Faunus**

"...you know, going to a new world was nerve racking enough," Nyx commented as the Bulkhead made their way to Menagerie, staring at the window while fiddling with his kukris. "But trying to make a relationship with people who aren't...well, normal I guess, is something else."

"Normal...? Are you really talking about normality here, Nyx?" Crowe scoffed. "We're from a new world where we fight monsters and daemons, and can use magic. Normal is completely overrated..."

Nyx opened his mouth to speak, but realized she was right. Cid seemed to agree, as he gave the boy a look. "She's got a point, kid," he said as he fiddled around with some sort of piece of machinery in his hand. "Anyway...these Faunus people we're going to meet. They've been looked down on because of...what? They've got a few extra features like a tail or two more ears or scales?" The old man gave a snort. "Load of Chocobo shit if you ask me."

"Yeah. So what if they have some extra features? From what King Regis told us, Faunus are pretty cool. I mean, night vision and enhanced senses...those would sure come in handy..."

Titus chuckled. "Were it only so easy..."

He, along with the rest of the Glaive knew first hand of how prejudicial people can be. A majority of the current members of the Kingsglaive were immigrants from Lucian territories.

Most of the more savvy members of society didn't take too kindly to the 'rats' as they so bluntly put it. Nyx wasn't bothered by it much. As far as he was concerned, a few bad words and curses were the least of his worries. After all, protecting the kingdom was much more important. Crowe and Libertus shared the same sentiments, though Tredd had a habit of picking fights with those individuals, leaving either Luche or Pelna to keep him in line. Thus, Nyx felt he could have related to the Faunus...though their problems were much worse. After all, they dealt with persecution in several places, not just the one. And this was going on for YEARS.

"Hopefully we get a good welcoming committee," Crowe said. "So, what do you think this Ghira guy is gonna be like? The Principal guy said he was pretty headstrong, so you think it might be hard convincing him?"

"Actions speak louder than words," Titus said, staring at his subordinates. "If we show them we mean no harm and we truly wish for peace amongst them, we must demonstrate how far we are willing to go. According to the two men, only a third of Menagerie was inhabitable, due to hostile wildlife and harsh climates. If we could somehow fix both those problems, we could establish good communications with them. Of course, that's just being optimistic."

Cid barked with laughter. "Hell, better than nothing," he said. "Anyway, quit yer complaining and thinking...you can figure out what you youngin's need to do when we get to this Menagerie place."

"I agree with the old man..." Nyx answered as he sheathed his kukris. "If actions speak louder than words...then let's let our actions do the talking."

Crowe grinned. "Amen to that."

XXXXXXXXXX

Ghira was nervous.

He had every right to be. The leaders of the Kingdom that appeared out of nowhere were heading right towards his home.

His palms were sweaty, his heart was pounding, and creases forming on his forehead. "Calm down, Ghira," Krimzen told his friend. "Being stressed will do you no good."

"Forgive me, Krimzen...but given the series of events happening over the course of the past few days...I can't help but be nervous..." Ghira shook his head.

The Bull Faunus could only nod in understanding. Recently, the White Hoods had attacked the Fang during a peaceful protest, and while no one was killed...there were numerous wounded. Some of the Faunus were calling for retaliation, but what good would it do? Ghira wanted to fight back, but if he did, then everything they worked for would be lost. Now that a kingdom without Faunus had come, a kingdom from another world, was coming to meet them...well lets just say stress was more than justified.

There is a chance that they could be accepting of the Faunus and come for peaceful intentions...but there is also the chance that they could be akin to the White Hoods and end up being hostile.

"I hope everything goes well," the man thought aloud. Eventually, they found something slowly approaching in the distance. "Hm...that must be them."

The Bullhead approached the island of Menagerie. It soon flew over the residents' heads and made to land in the clearing.

Krimzen patted Ghira on the shoulder. "Showtime, my friend."

XXXXXXXXXX

Regis didn't know how long it has been since he felt this worried.

Why wouldn't he? He was about to meet the leader of a nation consisting of people with unique, animalistic features.

"You okay, Reggie?" Cid asked as they approached the doors. "You look more nervous than the day we fought that damned demonic squid thing way back."

"...Is it really that obvious..." The King of Lucis responded with a wry grin.

The mechanic gave him a dry look. "Yeah, pretty much," he responded. "C'mon, relax. So long as it's you doing the negotiations, things are gonna be fine."

"Maybe...but I can't help but feel worried of how the Faunus would take to our presence, Cid..." Regis shook his head.

"Again, if it's you, everything will be fine!"

Regis still seemed unconvinced, but eventually gave a sigh. Cid was right. He needed to have a bit more confidence in himself. If he didn't, he may as well be a poor excuse of a king. He couldn't afford to be weak-kneed now. Especially when things hinged on what happened now. Would things go smoothly? He hoped so. The moment of truth was almost here. He had to be ready, no hesitation.

Then, the doors opened.

A draft of hot, tropical air entered the aircraft as the ramp lowered to touch the ground. Standing in the clearing, not too far away from the Bulkhead were a few figures. Two were in the front while the rest acted as a security group of sorts.

True to what they expected, all of them had animalistic features. The leader, a large man in his twenties with black hair and golden eyes had a pair of furry, triangular ears atop his head. If the man's form was any indication, he was clearly built for combat. Next to him was a man dressed in a white lab coat, dark red hair swept back, and two red horns sticking out from his forehead.

"Hoooly shit these guys are like animal-people," Nyx whispered in surprise before smacking himself. "No, stop. Saying stuff like that is gonna make this negotiation go south fast."

"I dunno about that," Crowe whispered back. "Personally, the guy with the horns looks like a badass."

Titus let out a sigh while Regis and Cid chuckled somewhat. Ah, to be young again. Regardless, at least they had positive impressions. The King then approached, Titus following behind. The black-haired man followed the motion. "Ghira Belladonna, I presume?" Regis asked. "It's a pleasure."

"I would certainly hope so," Ghira replied, offering a small, uncertain smile. "Welcome, sir, to Menagerie, home of the Faunus."

"I appreciate you welcoming us here, personally." King Regis replied with a smile. "I have been eager in meeting with you and your people ever since I was first notified of the nation not too far from Lucis."

This answer seemed to surprise Ghira and the bull-horned man, though Ghira's smile turned hopeful. "Is that so?" he asked. "Perhaps we ought to discuss this elsewhere? I happen to own a villa near the edge of town."

"A fine idea," Regis nodded. "Truth be told, the heat is quite unbearable, even if only for a few minutes."

Cid nodded in agreement as he walked up to the group, taking off his cap and wiping the sweat from his brow. "You're telling me, Reggie," he said. "How in Sam Hell can you Fauna folk stand this?!"

"Well, when you live on this island for so long, you learn to get used to it..." The bull Faunus beside Ghira shrugged before extending a hand. "My name is Krimzen Taurus. A pleasure."

"Cid Sophiar," he said, shaking his hand. "Mind telling me where an old man can get something to drink around here?"

"Same here," Crowe spoke up. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm starving!"

Krimzen smiled. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Great!" Nyx smiled while clapping his hands. "Then let's go!"

Regis couldn't help but chuckle while Titus shook his head, watching the Glaive leave with the doctor. The crowd of Faunus watched with apprehension, as if expecting something, though none of the newcomers seemed to be bothered. "Good grief," the Commander of the Glaive muttered in exasperation. "They're supposed to be the royal guard, being attentive, not thinking of this like some sort of vacation."

"Oh, let them be, Titus," Regis said warmly. "I think they deserve a moment of relaxation." He then turned back to Ghira. "Now then, where did you say that villa was?"

"Yes. Please follow me." The man nodded as he turned to the direction of his home.

Regis and Titus followed Ghira towards the villa, while Krimzen led Cid and the Glaive to a nearby shelter for food. As they did, the people gathered around whispered amongst themselves.

"Who are these people?"

"Humans? What are they doing here?"

"Say...are these the people from the Kingdom that appeared from the light?"

"Were they responsible for the crazy weather?"

"Why are they speaking with the Chief?"

And many others.

The populace was confused, but some held out hope that these strangers would be different from the inhabitants of Remnant. After all, these were unknowns...and they just might grant them the one thing they were looking for.

Equality.

XXXXXXXXXX

"...hey?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever wonder...why we're here?"

"Shit, I dunno...maybe because we drew the short stick and got stuck on guard duty?"

"No, not that, I mean why are we HERE? Like why do we exist? Is it due to natural causes, or is it some sort of actions caused by the Gods of Light and Darkness?"

The dog faunus slowly stared at his comrade, raising an eyebrow. "...uh, dude?"

"Yeah man?"

"Have you been watching Red vs Blue? If so, you need to stop."

"Oh come on!" the lizard Faunus whined. "That show's funny! I mean seriously, where else am I gonna find sucky one-liner jokes and a bunch of idiots?"

"Yeah, sure," the dog faunus rolled his eyes. "That show is just about as funny as sans from Undertale's skeleton jokes."

"...you have no sense of humor."

"Yeah, whatever. But seriously, going back to guard duty, why are we even here? I mean, the only Grimm that come around here are Creeps and Beowolves, and they're just the typical small stuff. I just don't get it. Why all the security?"

"You didn't hear?" the guard cocked his head. "Apparently someone from that new kingdom is coming here."

"For real? They're actually visiting us?" His companion asked.

"Supposedly. Ghira and Krimzen are going to personally greet them."

"Huh," the dog Faunus hummed. "Well...hope they don't end up being assholes like Schnee."

"You and me both, man." The lizard Faunus nodded in agreement.

The dog faunus gave a shrug, though suddenly, his body tensed. "Bud?" his comrade asked, seeing him suddenly eyeing the forest with fierce intent. "Something up?"

"...I'm sensing something by the woods." His companion responded, fully alert. "Get ready...whatever it is...it doesn't seem friendly..."

Instantly, his friend reached for his rifle. Meanwhile, Bud narrowed his eyes, his more acute ears twitching, listening for anything. He gave a small sniff, as being a dog Faunus, he had the added addition of having a good sense of smell.

And with these enhanced senses, he realized that whatever was within the forest didn't smell like a human, faunus, or even the local wildlife. That could only mean one thing...A Grimm.

As if on cue, a hulking shadow jumped out of the foliage, landing on all fours in a thunderous crash as the earth buckled under its weight. The figure then stood on its legs as a pair of massive fists beat its chest, excited that it's found prey.

"...oh fuck me."

XXXXXXXXXX

"A lovely place you have here, Ghira."

King Regis commented as his eyes scanned the grand structure the group set foot in.

"Thank you, your majesty. I am honored."

"Please, call me Regis," the king asked kindly. "Truth be told, I don't quite feel at ease being called a king." Even though it had been years since he had claimed the Throne, he had yet to believe himself as a True King of Lucis compared to his forefathers.

Ghira seemed to be curious about this, though he rather chose to instead begin the meeting. The three men sat down around a small table. As they did, Ghira crossed his legs. "So tell me, Regis...what do you know about the Faunus?"

"Only what Ozpin and James Ironwood told me," Regis replied. "Though the Great War had brought them together, the Faunus were still subjected to prejudice. While some found Menagerie to be a sign of hope for co-existence, others found it to be an insult. In addition, some are even still forced into slave labor under the guise of manual labor. Case in point was the Schnee Dust Company. Sadly, that is as much as I am aware of."

"Unfortunately...all of it is the truth." The raven haired man sighed. "Even though our kind fought in the War, we were treated no differently than we were before the conflict. And the Humans that resent us are becoming more extreme as time progresses."

Titus frowned. "Extreme?" he questioned. "How so?"

"A radical group of humans who call themselves the White Hoods were formed a few years ago, and they're members comprise of those who harbor immense feelings of superiority or hate towards us. They're influence is quite great as well, and despite some of our attempts to disband them, they're simply too large to deal with. Not even the police have had any luck in bringing them down because of their methods," Ghira answered with regret thick in his voice. "Worse...earlier this week, they attacked a group of ours during a protest against the Schnee Dust Corporation. It left many of us injured...including Krimzen's five year old son."

Regis' eyes widened. Titus' mouth curled into a scowl, his hands balling into fists. They could hardly believe what they heard. Was there truly such a group who held such animosity towards a race of individuals? Especially ones that would even go so far as to hurt a CHILD? "T-that is...horrible," the king muttered, aghast. "And the men responsible have not been caught?"

"No..." Ghira shook his head solemnly. "...once more, they evade the retribution of the law. Even then, due to the influence of some of their members, they would've gotten off scott free as well. After all, a large number of humans turn a blind eye to a Faunus being harmed...even if that Faunus is a child..."

Regis frowned. "...I did not realize the circumstances were that bad," he said in remorse. "Had this happened in Lucis, I would have ordered for the arrest of those men, and life imprisonment...and if need be, their execution."

"Regarding that matter," the Cat Faunus said slowly, eyeing the young King wearily for any sign of deceit of what he was about to ask. "As I understand it, Lucis does not have any Faunus, nor were you aware of us...forgive me for asking you this, but what are your opinions of us?"

Regis was silent for a moment. Though it was short, it was certainly tense, as Ghira's hands had unconsciously balled into fists. "...may I speak frankly, Chief Ghira?"

"Of course, Regis."

"I believe the Faunus are great beings that are equal, if not superior, to humans." Came the earnest reply.

The response was so swift and blunt that the leader of the White Fang reeled back in surprise, eyes wide. Even Titus seemed shocked by the answer, staring at his king with surprise. However, the face of Regis Lucis Caelum was stern, if not proud. A face that truly belonged to a king.

"True, they are different from us physically," he continued. "However, beyond that, can you tell me what is truly different between us? Yes, they can see better than us in the dark nights, but they have suffered through humiliation, prejudice, and I suspect even worse than what the White Hoods have done, and yet here you stand, tall and proud like any other man. Quite frankly, Ghira Belladonna, I am abhorred by what I have heard. Your people are forced to work in questionable circumstances, treated like outcasts, and even abused, and what do our fellow man do? Look away and ignore their plight." Regis' face hardened. "Once, a King of Lucis held a statement close to heart, and a statement known to his court. 'For those who would ignore their neighbor's plight, only misfortune shall befall them, but for one who would help a neighbor who suffers, only fortune shall smile upon them.' Though man claims equality, we forget so easily that we ourselves once fell to prejudice because of where we hailed, or how we spoke, or how we lived, or of the color of our skin. For us to turn a blind eye to those who suffer from the same misfortune as we do is nothing short of cruelty and ignorance."

No words came to respond to such a speech. Titus stared at his king before a proud smile formed on his face, respecting the king who had chosen to save his homeland in exchange for leaving their world behind. Meanwhile, Ghira stared at Regis with shock clearly written across his face. His jaw hanged open, inviting any insect wandering in the air to enter, and his eyes wide as plates. He knew that Regis was not like other men. He hailed from a world so vastly different from theirs, after all. However, the words he spoke...they carried conviction. Honesty. Wisdom. Strength. There were power to his words. There was no deceit to be found.

This man...this King...he meant every word he spoke.

Eventually, the Chief of Menagerie let out a boisterous laugh, an action that took both Lucians by surprise. "Of all the things I expected to hear, I never would have dreamed I would hear those words!" he said, his voice strong. "Especially not from a man who is not even from this world!" He slammed his hands down on his knees, a large, booming grin plastered across his mug. "You are a good man, Regis. Honest, open-minded, and accepting. If even half of your people are like you, then they are more than welcome to Menagerie!"

Regis smiled back sheepishly, sharing a look with Titus. It seemed this was the start of good negotiations. "Regarding that matter," he said, smiling back in hopes. "If you are willing, and are the people of Menagerie, and should my own people accept it, then Lucis will open its doors to the Faunus."

Ghira's wider grew even wider. "You know something, Regis?" he asked. "I think I like you! Before we get to negotiations, I believe drinks are in order. Best to get comfortable before politics can begin."

"Knowing how tense His Majesty has been," Titus commented, chuckling at the expensive of his king. "I believe some alcohol is more than welcome."

Regis let out a sigh, but accepted the offer nonetheless. However, the idea of drinking brought forth fresh memories to his mind. The last time he drank, it was back with his old friends. A slight smile formed on his face. 'I barely remember the last time I managed to drink someone under the table...even if the hangover was far from worth it.'

XXXXXXXXXX

"Good lord this booze is awesome!" Cid cheered as he gulped down another chug of beer. "This puts Lucis booze to shame!"

"Well, if it's one thing that Menagerie prides itself in...it's our alcohol!" Krimzen guffawed after taking another swig of his own drink.

"Ain't that the truth?" Crowe laughed as she downed her own drink. "This stuff rocks!"

Nyx laughed happily. "You guys are drinking waaaaay too much!" he said with a grin on his face. "Seriously, I get the booze is good, but try and ease up!"

"Oh come on Nyx...loosen up!" Crowe wrapped an arm around his shoulder, her face flushed from the alcohol. "It ain't gonna kill ya!"

The bartender, a Faunus with neatly combed gray hair with a bushy tail sticking out from behind him, gave a wry look at the young Glaive, who tried to shove her off. "Okay okay, I know you enjoy alcohol, but loosen up!" he asked. "You guys stink! Also, Crowe, pull up your pants! No one wants to see your panties!"

"Aw...you know you wanna Nyx..." She pouted.

"Now I KNOW that's the alcohol talking..."

"...you Glaives are weird," the bartender said bluntly, causing Nyx to shrug and resume getting Crowe off of him. Then he turned to Krimzen, who looked to be having the time of his life with Cid, the men taking turns drinking and seeing who could stay conscious the longest. "You sure it's okay for you to be drinkin' doc?"

"The wolf's got a point, bull-head," Cid hiccuped, slightly red in the face. "You oughta put the glass down...ain't no way I'm letting you drink me under the table."

Krimzen grinned. "That's what you think," he slurred. "Not sure if you know...but we bulls are stubborn."

"You wanna see stubborn?! Let me show you how a grease monkey drinks!"

"Then bring it on! Barkeep!" Krimzen turned to the man. "Keep 'em coming! I have my honor to defend here!"

Nyx and the Bartender looked at one another, realizing what exactly was happening. The wolf Faunus shook his head in disappointment while Nyx sighed. "...you got any aspirin?" the young Glaive asked. "I think we're gonna need it. A LOT of it."

XXXXXXXXXX

"...so tell me about the wildlife," Regis asked, taking a small sip of his beverage. "I know only little about the creatures that roam Remnant, other than Humans and Faunus, as well as the Grimm."

Ghira let out a sigh, taking a deep swig of his beer. "Unfortunately, Grimm's the only wildlife we have here," he said, much to his own displeasure, evident by the growl that escaped his lips. "The dominant ones that run around the safari are Beringel...which are more or less highly aggressive apes that like to throw shit around if they can find any. The little ones aren't much trouble, but the bigger ones...they're another story."

"I assume that there is a greater factor of danger of the larger ones aside from size?"

"You assume correctly. You see, the bigger the Grimm of its own subspecies, the longer it's been alive. And if it lives long enough...it begins to learn."

Titus leaned forward. Information like this was crucial, after all. "So if they live long enough...they grow to adapt, and think. Pardon my asking, but have there ever been any human-like Grimm?"

"None that I know of," Ghira shook his head. He then took on a more thoughtful expression. "Actually, I've never heard of a humanoid Grimm. The only thing I can think of is a Geist, but that's stretching it. It's a ghost-like creature that can possess inanimate objects. It's a pain to kill when it finds enough materials laying around. Thankfully, there aren't any here on Menagerie."

"And why is that?"

"They act on instinct, much like how animals are. Some find places more homey than others. Beringels, being apes, find the vegetation that grows here to be more hospital, as do the Beowolves and Creeps. There's also the occasional Nevermore flock that passes by here as well."

"By Gods...now I truly understand why only a third of this landmass is habitable..."

The Cat Faunus nodded solemnly. "And that is only the wildlife. Traversing the other third is almost impossible due to the terrain. It's manageable at best...but we can't settle in the region. Not unless we find a way to actually manage to do so without the wildlife getting antsy. All of our attempts ended in failure."

"I see..." The King of Lucis nodded in understanding. As he thought...it seemed like Menagerie was in a bad place. Negotiations seemed to be going well just from stating his view on Faunus, so perhaps...

"Ghira!" a panicked voice shouted as the doors to the villa were thrown open. "C-Chief Ghira!"

The black-haired man sighed in irritation, turning to the intruder, which was a Faunus with messy green hair, cat ears also sticking up from his head. "What is it? I'm in the middle of a-"

"Bud and Crash's outpost was attacked!" came the startled reply, causing Ghira to stop wide-eyed. "There's a Grimm attacking them! A big one! They're calling in reinforcements! I-it's a Beringel!"

"What?!" The man jumped to his feet. "Damn apes!" he growled before turning to Regis. "Sorry, Your Majesty, but it appears negotiations will have to wait!"

"I concur." The King and Titus stood as well. "Let us accompany you."

The messenger and Ghira's eyes widened, but the latter's face fell into a smile. "Regis...you are getting more and more welcome."

XXXXXXXXXX

When panic and unsettle began to hit, the Glaive sobered up immediately, though Crowe was still sluggish on her feet. Nyx asked if she wanted to stay behind, but she insisted. That she could get better as they went. Cid and Krimzen went with them to better understand the situation. Soon, they reached the villa, where Ghira, Regis, and Titus.

"Your Majesty!" Nyx called out, gaining the attention of the others. "We've come to help as well!"

His King nodded in gratitude. He then turned to one of the guards that had come to report to Ghira. "What's the situation?"

"W-we don't know," the man replied, clearly shaken. "It was a quiet, and then all of a sudden, a Beringel showed up! I-I've never seen one that big before!"

"If it's as big as you claim, it must be an Elder Grimm." Ghira stated grimly. Now that was definitely bizarre. Grimm that lived for that long would most definitely be aware of the implications of attacking a heavily populated area. There must be a reason for its sudden assault.

For a moment, he wondered if it was because of the newcomers, but thought against it. For now, they had to deal with the immediate threat.

"Very well, then." The Chief nodded before turning to Krimzen and the Lucians. "Let us make haste."

The doctor gave a bow. "I'll look after the wounded," he said. "Someone needs to. And Ghira?"

"Yes, old friend?"

"...don't do anything reckless."

In response to his question, the feline Faunus gave a feral smirk. "...No promises."

"Nyx, Crowe," Titus called. Immediately, the two straightened out. "This will be our first encounter with the Grimm. Treat them like you would with the wildlife from Lucis, and the Daemons."

"Yes sir!" The two Kingsglaive soldiers nodded astutely. They have learned much about the Grimm from their interactions with team STRQ, and learned just how dangerous these soulless creatures are. They are attracted to negative emotions such as fear, anger, hatred, and sorrow. And the ones that lived for long periods of time are especially dangerous due to gaining a capacity to learn and practice caution.

With that in mind, they took out their weapons, and slipped on their hoods, their masks settling over their face.

Ghira then turned to his own soldiers. "Alright men! Let's go! If that ape gets close to here, we'll lose the only home we have!" His words received a chorus of roars. Everyone was ready. Then, with a wave, they moved out. Regis watched them all leave, his eyes weary while Cid walked up to him from behind, also observant. The King wished to go with them, but Titus had more or less managed to convince him to stay here. How ironic that was...a soldier telling his king what to do.

"Reggie," Cid said, standing next to his friend. "What do you think about this?"

The man shook his head. "I can think of many things," he said before looking back at the forest. "However...I find it odd for a Grimm, an Elder one at that, to attack around the same time as our arrival."

"You thinkin' it's because of us?"

"If it is...then I believe this puts a wrench in our plans of peace, should that be the cause."

"Well, we better hope that it isn't then. Even if it is...I have a feeling that you'd still be able to handle it." The mechanic responded after resting a reassuring hand on the King's shoulder.

Regis still looked troubled. Why was the Grimm attacking now? At such a time? It was far too much to be a coincidence, especially since it was an Elder Grimm attacking.

'This doesn't feel right...'

XXXXXXXXXX

"Let's see how you do, Lucians..."

Salem whispered as she observed the series of events through the Seer Grimm.

It was a simple thing, really. The Beringel wouldn't normally act on its own. It had lived long enough to learn, after all. Attacking the settlement on Menagerie was suicide by itself. However, by influencing it directly, she could control the Grimm and make it act according to her will. When the nature of these newcomers came to light, she was astounded and curious. Travelers from another world? Could it truly be possible?

As such...she decided to give them...a test of sorts. To learn what abilities they possessed if they truly did not originate in Remnant. It wouldn't be certain if they possessed Aura like the denizens of this world...but they may hold intriguing abilities for sure.

If they didn't, it would be interesting to learn how they remained unfound for so long. And if they truly were outsiders...

A malicious grin etched on her timeless face. If they were outsiders...then she would have more pawns to use and throw this world into disarray. After all, their chaotic appearance brought forth weather disasters of catastrophic proportions. It would be impossible for those to take place without any casualties. The foolish populace of Remnant would grieve for their lost ones and direct their hatred and resentment towards something, a scapegoat for their loss.

All in all, perfect opportunities.

Now, she had to see if these people were truly from a place beyond their world.

XXXXXXXXXX

"...holy shit that's a big monkey."

Nyx could only nod in agreement with Crowe's sentiment. Before them was the first Grimm they had ever seen, and her crude assessment was more than justified. Its body was built like a gorilla, nothing but black skin with bulging muscles, and a chest armored by white ivory, almost resembling bone. It had a few scars along its arms and torso, signs that it had been through many a fight, and its left eye was even gone, bearing a jagged scar. It sat on its feet and fists before it turned its head, letting out a primal snarl from its throat, which seemed to vibrate from the intensity of the verbal remark.

"Glaive, to arms!" Titus yelled, drawing his sword. "Crowe, provide support with the rifleman! Nyx, you're with me!"

"Yes sir!" The magic user of the Glaive fell back with the sharpshooters of Menagerie and begun to cast a spell. Titus charged in with his broadsword drawn while Nyx threw one of his Kuris at the Grimm, immediately warping to it when it got close.

In a flash of blue, he reappeared right in front of it, and swung his knife, delivering a slash to its leg. The Grimm let out a roar as it whirled and slammed its fist down, crushing whatever it struck. Nyx had moved away in time, backflipping away before readying himself for another charge. With its back turned, Crowe and the soldiers opened fire on the thing. Bullets, accompanied by a bolt of thunder, pierced into its body, causing it to cry out in pain. It nearly stumbled forward from the bolt itself, and reared its head, looking at the Faunus and human with utter loathing. It then directed its attention to Titus, who charged at it, sword in hand.

It raised its other fist in an attempt to smash the approaching Glaive, but Titus easily evaded it before jumped onto its arm and run up the limb. As he did, he dragged the blade along its skin, causing a small, yet painful gash. When he came close, he swung, letting the blade slash across its cheek. Furious, the Beringel swung its arm down on its shoulder as if trying to smack a fly away. He managed to evade by throwing his sword at a tree, and Warping away. The Beringel removed its hand, and scowled, seeing the missing presence of the human that had tried to attack it. Then Nyx came up from behind, jabbing the knives into its back. The Beringel roared, and tried to throw him off, fruitlessly trying to grab him.

"W-whoa boy!" Nyx cried, suddenly finding himself trying to hold on for dear life. "Crap crap craaaap...!"

The Grimm thrashed around to ditch the Glaive, but was unable to do so. It then chose to ram into a nearby tree to crush its hitch hiker. Nyx noticed this and immediately threw one of his daggers away to warp to safety.

A flash of blue, and he found himself tumbling, suffering from slight vertigo before he managed to regain himself. The Grimm shook off the damage, and turned, letting out a growl at the humans and Faunus. It then grabbed the tree by its trunks, and let out a grunt. "Wait, what is it doing?" Crowe questioned. She soon found the answer when, in a mighty show of herculean strength, the Beringel ripped the tree up by its roots from the ground, bits and clumps of earth sticking to it. Then it whirled around, hefting its weapon to its shoulder, and roared at them. "FUCK!"

"Take cover!" Ghira shouted. The Menageriean soldiers and Lucians scrambled for cover as the Beringel chucked the massive piece of foliage at them. It crashed into the ground in a resounding thud, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

They quickly got back to their feet, only to move away again when the Beringel charged at them, beating its chest and screaming like a demented madman out for blood. The Kingsglaive and soldiers readied themselves for its fast approach.

The Grimm jumped into the air, and raised its fists. Everyone braced for the inevitable collision. Ghira growled, and tensed his fists. There was no way he was about to let this monkey win!

However...

XXXXXXXXXX

Salem's eyes widened, her glowing red irises grown. "What in the world...?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Y-Your Majesty?!" Titus Drautos gaped as his King had intercepted the descending Grimm by striking it with a large Great sword.

Regis Lucis Caelum glared back at the Beringel, who gawked back in shock, as if completely baffled by how a human could have stopped it with such a small weapon. With impressive strength, the King had thrown the Grimm away, sending it back to where it once stood. The Grimm tumbled a bit before coming to a stop, digging its fingers into the earth to stop its retreat. It let out a roar as it looked up.

There, the ruler of Lucis stood, surrounded by swords, floating in mid-air, the sound of glass shattering and crystalline fragments, reflected in the light almost like crystals, dancing around him in tandem with the many weapons. The Faunus stared back in utter shock and disbelief, the sight completely unreal to them. Was this the man's Semblance? No, that couldn't be. Unless those from another world also possessed a manifestation of one's soul...but this was unreal. They had never heard of such a power. However, the sight was still breathtaking to see. From here, they felt it. Power and authority rolled off of this man in waves, and though his body was small, he stood tall and proud like a dauntless giant, ready to face the coming storm before him.

"My apologies, Titus," Regis spoke solemnly, his attention solely focused on the Grimm before him. "However...when a king is left to stand in ponder, he tends to get antsy. I'd rather not allow my soldiers to face a battle while their commander sits on the sidelines like some sort of common spectator." The ruler closed his eyes, remembering saying that his father had once told him, passed down from other kings as well. "One of my predecessors lived by a saying...if a king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?"

The Kingsglaive and their commander's eyes widened upon his words. Titus stared at the man whose father helped save his home from Niflheim all those years ago.

This scene...was just like then. However, rather than the groomed man who stood before him, there was another, garbed in regal black robes, surrounded by several crystalline blades, all armed to the teeth against several soldiers of silver armor, guns at the ready.

'Just like back then,' he thought as he slowly took up his sword. The Glaive soon followed. Lightning danced at Crowe's fingertips, and Nyx flicked his knives into a more comfortable position.

The Faunus looked at one another, and then rallied next to them, guns aimed and ready to fire. Ghira laughed, and pounded his fists together, standing next to Regis, a wide smile on his face. "I'm liking you more and more, Regis," he remarked before turning to the Beringel. "Now then...shall we?"

'Just when His Majesty saved my home from Niflheim...and me,' Titus' eyes narrowed, and felt the power given to him flow. Light danced around him, as had the Kingsglaive. The power the King had granted them was primed and ready for the assault, the Grimm glowering and raging as it stared back at them, welcoming the challenge it would be given. 'I remember that day...the day when I swore my loyalty to the crown, and to Lucis. Now, here today...I will repay my debt to your father, Your Majesty.'

"Glaives!" Regis bellowed. "To arms!"

"Yes! Your majesty!" The trio bellowed in unison. Titus and Nyx charged in while Crowe stood back as lightning crackled along her arm. She shot her hand forward and an arc of pure electricity flew and struck the Grimm dead center in the chest.

The Beringel cried, stepping back. Pain erupted through its being before it slammed both of its hands to the ground, creating a small tremor. The group was nearly sent to their feet. However, Ghira stood his ground, and roared. "Soldiers!" he shouted. "Don't let a single hair touch the Lucians! Send this bastard to hell!"

"Yes sir!" The troops cried in unison as they raised their rifles and opened fired on the Grimm, continuously pelting it with bullets to stop its advance. The bullets by themselves did nothing to injure it, but the rain was enough to halt it, if only out of annoyance.

Then Regis took to the battlefield.

His feet left the ground as he flew towards the struggling Grimm, his arsenal of blades surrounding him.

The Beringel let out a cry of pain as steel ripped across its flesh, Nyx and Titus now behind it. However, rather than focus its attention on them, it turned to Regis, and let out a bestial roar, rampaging forward on its hands and feet before taking to the air, arms raised.

Then...Grimm and King clashed.

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: What Comes After**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Author Notes: Now before you ask: Yes. We know that in Final Fantasy XV, Titus' home was taken by Niflheim 30 years before the events of the game. But in this universe, the previous King of Lucis, Regis' father, and his forces have successfully defended Titus' home from the Empire rather than remain in an Isolationistic stance. As a result of this, Titus became indebted to the King and swore loyalty under him by joining the Kingsglaive, eventually working his way up to be its commander.**

 **And before you ask again…Yes. We do have all the members of the Kingsglaive this early because we figured that they would have a pivotal role on Remnant and their interactions with its inhabitants. Like Team STRQ for instance. We also weren't sure what exact age they all were, so we assumed they would be in their 30's. Which is why they are part of the Glaive, but at a young age.**

 **Speaking of which, we also changed some events regarding their joining. In this world, their homes weren't taken by Nifs due to the Lucian royal line taking a defensive stance to protect its territories from the Empire. As a result of this, some of the youths went to Insomnia to repay their Kingdom's benevolence by joining the Kingsglaive, like an act of military service.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 5: What Comes After**

Menagerie was in a state of celebration and warm welcome when the Glaive returned, wounded in hand. The people were cheering and crowding around the Lucians. The wounded were brought to the infirmary, given the opportunity to recover while the guards, while being patched up by medics, began to regal the battle earlier, claiming that it was a thing of beauty, seeing a single man with many weapons around his person fighting against what could only be called a monster of an ape. Regis, for his part, was bashful and humble, claiming he had help from the citizens of the small village, as well as his own soldiers. Ghira had only laughed and patted the man on the back hard, nearly throwing him to the ground. Krimzen and Cid simply watched the whole thing happen with smiles on their face.

In the grand scheme of things, this attack, in some ways, had helped build a greater foundation between the people of Lucis and the Faunus as a whole. The negotiations between the Chieftan and the King had established good connections, but with this, the people of Lucis, or at the very least, the Kingsglaive, had earned the respect and admiration from the people of Menagerie. That being said, it would be only the first step in what was to come. As the people celebrated, a makeshift festival was held in their honor, much to the Glaive's embarrassment. It was half-baked, but a well-meant gesture. Small stalls giving out various sorts of food and carnivals were held, and at one point, people had begun performing small acts of enjoyment. Cid, for his part, vastly welcomed the idea, having yet another chance to drink Krimzen under the table after being so rudely interrupted by the damned monkey in the forest. Nyx had enjoyed it, mingling with a few people he met along the way, and Crowe spent her evening trying to beat a few carnival games, and playing around with the local children. Titus, for his part, remained close to the King, as was his duty, though much to his own embarrassment, he had been unknowingly found himself being looked upon by shimmering eyes of interest by the more...fairer sex. Regis laughed at the news, claiming it would be a good chance for him to find a wife, only adding further to the mortification.

Ghira sat on the stairs leading into his villa, a glass held in one hand, while Regis sat behind him, holding his own drink.

"You've done more for my people today that any other human here in Remnant ever has," the Cat Faunus said with a brimming smile, looking at the King. "And my people agree. As far as I'm concerned, you are more than welcomed here in Lucis, Regis."

The King of Lucis smiled widely, bowing his head in gratitude. "Thank you, Ghira. I can only hope I can faithfully return this gesture in any way we can."

"I truly appreciate it, your majesty." Ghira nodded appreciatively.

The two men shared a toast, their glasses clinking against one another, before looking up at the night sky. Already, a black curtain had fallen over the limitless ceiling above them, small lights twinkling overhead. Of course, the most curious detail about it was the cracked moon that hanged above them, shards hanging across like debris. The sight fascinated Regis, and at the same time, made him wonder what could have happened to make the moon be so horribly cracked. "Quite the sight," he remarked. "First time I have ever seen a moon so hopelessly shattered."

"You've got that right," the chief of Menagerie agreed. "Many have tried to learn what happened to the moon, but so far, none know why it is that way. In fact, it has been like that since the Great War some sixty years ago."

"So I take it that the history regarding that has been lost during the war as well?"

"No one truly knows." Ghira shook his head, sadly. "Much of our history was lost during the Great War. If we had any, the conflict had all but destroyed it." The man then shook his head again, this time turning to Regis. "And what about your country, Regis? What is Lucis like?"

The King took a sip of his drink before continuing. "The Kingdom of Lucis possesses millennia of history in our old world, called Eos. We have been blessed by the Gods known as the Astrals, and my family has been charged with protecting the last Crystal."

"The last?" the Faunus inquired. "So there used to be more?"

"Yes, though any records of them have been lost to history. In the past, all territories of Eos once possessed a Crystal, or so I have been told by those who ruled before me. Technology and magic came quite far, and we've expanded our territories quite far. I'm sure you have noticed if you looked at they saw on the news. I must thank Ozpin for allowing us access to the worldwide network Remnant has. Moving on, though...there used to be a time when Lucis worshiped the idea of death."

Ghira choked on his drink, nearly spitting out the beverage before staring at Regis with wide eyes of disbelief. The King laughed. "Yes, shocking, I know. To my understanding, our forebears believed that death was only the beginning, a start to the journey to what we called the Astral Realm, a world found only in mythology. In regards to religion today, we worship the Hexatheon; Six Astrals who safeguard Eos. Titan, the Archaean, steadfast as stone. Ramuh, the Fulgurian, sharp as lightning. Shiva, the Glacian, gentle as snow. Leviathan, the Hydraean, relentless as tides. Bahamut, the Draconian, unbending as iron. Ifrit, the Infernian, fickle as fire. Since time imemorial, all of Eos pleaded for their protection in times of calamity. In terms of wildlife, we are plagued by two sorts of creatures. The ones who roam the plains, including the ferocious beast and 'king' of such places, the Behemoth...and the scourge that has plagued Eos for every dark night; the Daemons."

"Daemons...?" Ghira asked with a raised brow. "Are they anything like the Grimm?"

"In my opinion, the Grimm are but children," Regis answered. "Though thus far, I have only seen that Beringel, thus I cannot say. However, the daemons come in may forms, some greater than others. An example would be a Cerberus."

"Cerberus?"

"A monstrosity of a creature..." Regis stated grimly. "Picture a beast, canine in appearance with three heads. Its hide as black as obsidian, its eyes glowing a fiery orange, its scent of brimstone. A beast easily as tall as a multiple story house. Furthermore, it can breathe fire. A creature that will not cease until its prey is dead."

Ghira did not register the words at first, but the image that Regis had provided him made all color in his face drop. "...such a monster exists in Eos?" he questioned in horror. "Dear Gods...I hope none of these Daemons come to invade Remnant."

"That is my hope as well," Regis sighed. "Though, should it happen...I shall do whatever I can. I came to this world, in hopes for a better future for both my kingdom, and my son. If I have brought with me the scourge that plagues my people, then I shall deal with them as I always have."

"Perhaps...but if this threat does come to pass," Ghira grinned, patting the King on the shoulder. "Know that you have an ally with us Faunus. And, if all goes well, the other Kingdoms as well."

Regis smiled. Suddenly, their attention turned to the sky, where brilliant colors of light exploded. The people at the makeshift festival, and even the Lucians present, watched in joy and exhilaration as the fireworks continued to explode. The sight had brought much needed relief to Regis. Yet he knew this was only the start of a long journey ahead. A journey to try and establish a good presence here in Remnant, a chance to make peace for people who did not have it.

'Noctis,' he prayed, thinking of the child that would soon be born into this world. 'I pray...that you will be able to lead a happy life here.'

XXXXXXXXXX

Heh...never thought I'd be giving a lecture about this world, but hey...you learn something new everyday. Well, take out your pencils and your paper, kiddos, because Professor Qrow is about to give you a lecture. Class is now in session.

Welcome to the world of Remnant. Not the best place to live, but depending on where you're staying, it can get a little easier. You've got towns and villages that pop up as fast as they fall. The Faunus have Menagerie. But the sweet spots are Vale, Mistral, Atlas, and Vacuo. The four kingdoms of the modern era, and each one's special in its own little way.

Let's talk about Vale. In the grand scheme of things, Vale's pretty well guarded. Rests on the northeastern end of the world's largest continent, Sanus. Like most successful kingdoms, Vale's survival over the years can mostly be attributed to prime real estate.

Its front is protected by steep mountains, and its back is against waters too shallow for any real threat to pop out of. Not to say I haven't heard some crazy fish stories. Aside from the main city, which the kingdom's named after, the Vale territory also extends to several neighbouring cities farther along the northwest coastline, as well as a small island named Patch. Nice place to raise a family, if you're into that sort of thing.

Of course, all attempts to extend the kingdom's reach past the mountains and farther into the mainland have been colossal failures.

But, like I said, in the grand scheme of things, Vale ain't half bad. Regular climate, natural barriers, and some serious border defenses means the citizens of Vale can spend less time worrying about survival and more time just living their lives.

To the east of Sanus is Remnant's second largest landmass, Anima. That's where you'll find the kingdom of Mistral. Of the four kingdoms, Mistral has the most controlled territory, meaning you'll find a wider variety of ecosystems and lifestyles. Trust me, this place has something for everyone, for better or worse. The high society folks of Mistral are known worldwide for their contributions to fashion, architecture, theater, all the things that make the world pretty and tolerable.

But its lower class has got a fame of its own. Mistral is home to the biggest black market on the planet. Need something that's hard to find? Got someone that's hard to kill? They can help, provided you've got the Lien to pay for it.

There's one common thread that links all these people together, though, and that's their respect for nature. Particularly the sea and the sky. The natural resources and geography of the area impacted Mistral's culture and technology in a big way. Its first settlers found shelter high up in the wind-carved cliffs, and as their population grew so did their ability to utilize the land to its fullest potential. A real bunch of forward thinkers.

Of course, the bigger the kingdom, the harder it is to govern. There's a reason traitors and thieves flock to Mistral. The main city's right under the Council's eye, sure, but places like Windpath and Kuchinashi start to get a little farther out of sight. There's plenty of places to hide in Mistral. That's why you gotta know where to look.

Atlas is Remnant's youngest and arguably, most successful kingdom. But it's a bit of a special case.

See, before the Great War, there was no Atlas - there was Mantle. At some point in time, a group of settlers were crazy enough to venture out into the northernmost continent of Solitas. I guess when you're that desperate, a frozen hunk of rock doesn't seem like such a bad place to call home. As a matter of fact, the harsh weather conditions proved to be just as useful as the mountain ranges when it came to keeping the Creatures of Grimm at bay. It also kept the people of Mantle from flourishing. Humanity's got a neat trick up its sleeve, though. Whenever we're faced with a problem, our inclination is to find a solution. The cold climate of Solitas forced its settlers to adapt. It developed a more advanced technology - and they did it faster than the rest of the world - because they had to to survive. But it was the Great War that really kicked things off.

New forms of Dust application and weaponry allowed Mantle to expand. More and more territory was set aside for Dust mining and research. The territory beside the Kingdom's combat school, Alsius, was the most opportune area to construct a new R&D facility. But by the time things were all said and done, it would be much, much more.

Alsius was reopened as Atlas after the Great War, to house many of the warriors now seeking guidance. In an effort to "give back" to the citizens, Mantle applied all sorts of new Dust techniques and technologies it had used after the war to beef up the Academy's campus. School grounds expanded faster than they could have imagined, and even helped to better secure the surrounding areas. It wasn't long before the Kingdom's military moved in, then the labs, and research facilities. Eventually, even residential areas started popping up. In time, it became apparent that the city of Mantle was living in Atlas' shadow. And so the decision was made to move the Kingdom's capital. Mantle was old news - and the Kingdom of Atlas was born. "A golden age of prosperity," they called it - but those left behind in Mantle would probably tell you it was the coldest winter they ever knew.

Now if there's one Kingdom that's had it harder than the people of Mantle, it's Vacuo, the last of the four great Kingdoms. The western end of Sanus is a barren and desolate wasteland. Long ago, before man went and ruined everything, it was a paradise. In the center of the vast desert was an oasis unlike anything you've ever seen: A jungle bursting with natural resources, geographical defenses, and the world's largest recorded deposit of Dust. Nomads that survived the journey across the scorching sands settled down in this little hidden gem, and over time, the Kingdom of Vacuo thrived.

Unfortunately, comfort breeds weakness. While the rest of Remnant had to learn and adapt in order to survive, Vacuo's ancient society kicked back and lived a life of complacency. But when other, more developed Kingdoms set their eyes on everything Vacuo had to offer, its citizens couldn't do anything to stop them from taking it. Years of human conflict, unrestricted mining, and ecological disasters have changed Vacuo. The paradise that was once there's now practically indistinguishable from the surrounding deserts. Citizens live in makeshift homes, uprooting and traveling frequently in response to the fleeting resources and occasional attacks from the creatures of Grimm.

After the Great War, a formal government was finally established, but by that point the folks living in Vacuo didn't care to uphold its laws, making Shade Academy the only real source of order in the Kingdom. But order isn't everything. Vacuo may not be as prim and proper as the other three Kingdoms, but it's still standing. And the people there have a mutual respect for one another. See, there's only really one, unspoken rule in Vacuo: If you can survive here, then you're welcome here.

Now, normally, we'd end the lesson right here...but you see, in the recent years of Remnant's history, a new kingdom emerged. One from another world, if you could believe it.

Its name...was Lucis.

A Kingdom that appeared off the shores of Menagerie about twenty or so years ago.

Now, before coming to Remnant, Lucis was once apart of Eos, a world with all sorts of things. The most notable were the kingdoms in place. Most prominantly were the three kingdoms; Tenebrae, Lucis, and Niflheim. Tenebrae had remained a neutral kingdom, never interfering with any sort of conflict, though the Fleuret, the monarchs of the kingdom, held close relations with the royal family of Lucis. Niflheim was like Atlas, technologically advanced and powerful - so much so they started conquering other territories for the sake of obtaining new lands to increase their prosperity. Worst part? The guy in charge was loved by the people.

Lucis, on the other hand, had achieved territories through diplomatic and peaceful means. It became twice the size of Atlas, making it the largest kingdom on the planet. It also housed the last Crystal on Eos, a powerful and ancient relic, and the royal family protected. Some odd hundred and fifty years ago, a king of Lucis erected a powerful barrier over the kingdom to protect it, though when the new king, Regis, came into power...well, lets say that time has a way of weakening your walls. The Great Wall covered only insomnia, so the only way to defend Lucis was to form a militia, and a military. That was the Kingsglaive, and the Crownsguard.

Going into a bit of mythology here, the people of Eos believed in six powerful gods, known as Astrals. Bahamut the dragon, Shiva the ice queen, Ramuh the thunder god, Titan the colossal, Leviathan the sea dragon, and Ifrit the inferno. Bahamut once descended down into the mortal world, and bequeathed two humans, who would later become the founding heads of the royal families of Tenebrae and Lucis, great gifts. To the Fleuret, who would be their Oracle, his trident...and to the royal family of Lucis, who would safeguard the Crystal, the Ring of the Lucii. Some believe that the Ring houses the souls of all previous kings. Dunno if its true...but trust me, I've seen what it could do.

The reason why Regis brought Lucis to Remnant was because of the looming threat of Niflheim went it sent its sights on them. While most would call him a coward...some people knew when they're outgunned, and of what the consequences might be if you fight against something you know you can't win. Slyvia Nox Fleuret, the current Oracle, told the king he could bring his kingdom away from Niflheim with the power of the Crystal. The king saw a chance, and he took it.

Reception of the otherworldly Kingdom was mixed, at best. When they appeared, unusual weather happened. Water tornados spun out of control, giant ice glaciers formed off the coast of Vacuo, thunder storms brewed, giant spires of earth emerged in Atlas, and various other unusual phenomenon. Some lives were lost, and when the kingdom began making relations with its new neighbors...let's just say that a few people weren't too happy.

As for the rest of the majority, they were relatively well liked. Menagerie was the first Kingdom to be in contact with Lucis succeeding a meeting between King Regis, the headmaster of Beacon, and Atlas' newest General. After learning how much prejudice the Faunus endured over the years, the King immediately went towards extending a helping hand.

The relationship between the two was surprising, but a step forward. Lucis opened its doors to the Faunus, despite the upper class and more...dickish members of Lucis society being against it, much like how they were against immigrants joining the Kingsglaive. In exchange, Lucis helped expand Menagerie past its original borders. The Grimm that populated the lush lands were, how shall we say, put down, thus allowing the people to expand into uncharted territory. As a result, many Faunus, both from and outside of Menagerie, repaid this favor by joining the Kingsglaive. Among its numbers was even the former chieftan of Menagerie, Ghira Belladonna.

As the world began to grow used to the presence of Lucis, the kingdom itself was having its own changes. Regis had forfeited a substantial piece of territory to Sylvia Nox Fleuret, thus creating what you might consider to be the Remnant version of the kingdom of Tenebrae. The Oracle was kept in royal power, and thus, the houses of Lucis Caelum and Nox Fleuret, families chosen by the Astrals, became ever closer. I hear the queen's youngest daughter is to be the next Oracle when Sylvia steps down, and as for the son...well, that's a story for another time.

In later years, Lucis established good connections with the other kingdoms. Technological advancements were shared, agriculture brought over to other nations, and among other things. While some companies who enforced Faunus labor, like the Schnee Dust Corporation, were weary because they accepted Faunus, none could deny the opportunity to study the vast difference between their technology. Soon, Dust became integrated into Lucis. Within the span of the next few years, Lucis would then enter the Vytal Treaty, thus officially becoming an appropriate member, and established as the fifth kingdom of Remnant.

Unfortunately...like I said earlier, some people weren't happy.

Many people lost loved ones or property from the bizarre weather phenomenon of Lucis' arrival. And despite the compensation the Kingdom bestowed upon them for their loss, they desired vengeance. There were even some ruling bodies or corporations to join the bunch as they were skeptical of Lucis. A nation appearing out of nowhere and just helping people? It seemed too good to be true. Not to mention Lucis' actions took away from entrepreneurial pricks' profits.

Whether their hatred stemmed from deep or petty reasons, this group of people joined together in a movement to oppose Lucis.

Dubbed by their oh so creative name, the Anti-Lucian Federation.

Then, of course, there were those self-righteous White Hood creeps, who also sided with the Anti-Lucian Federation, also nicknamed as Alfs, namely due to Lucis' acceptance of Faunus. They claimed that they were traitors to humans, and should be punished.

Regardless, Lucis was here to stay...and believe me when I say this, their coming here had a lot of impact.

More than you could EVER imagine.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Two Years Later, Menagerie)

Ever since Menagerie expanded, business was booming.

The island nation's trading route had grown rapidly now that it had a partner in Lucis.

Not only had it expended economically, but with the help of Lucis, any territory previously inaccessible to them was now available. Some areas remained lush forest and safari wilds, in order to provide some adventure for the more rambuxious children, but warning signs were placed, as there were still some Grimm. With the increase of living space, an academy was also developed, headed by Krimzen Taurus, meant to train young children. Of course, while it wasn't as good as the academies in the academies, it was still a good way for Huntsmen and Huntresses to start.

Many people from Menagerie were grateful for Lucis, ever since their arrival two years ago. Not only were they now welcomed in a kingdom without prejudice (okay, major prejudice at the very least), but they were even greeted with some respect and admiration. Becoming part of the Kingsglaive, and even the Crownsguard, definitely had its perks. Some humans, mostly Lucians, had also taken up residency in Menagerie, due to preference in wonderful scenery and tropical atmosphere, as well as starting relatively new business where they would be otherwise thrown out of commission due to bigger corporations and business chains.

However...some didn't like the way of things. Especially one in particular. That being a seven-year old child, who was now going past what was designated as safe by the officials of Menagerie.

The child in question was traversing the thick brush of the forest, his dark red hair messy and slightly choppy, a pair of horns sticking out from his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a small black t-shirt and light red shorts.

Even to this day, even with all the stories from his father and the former Chieftain of their island nation, he still refused to see it. Humans and Faunus coexisting like this? He's seen the cruelty of humanity first hand two years ago, where all of his friends and their family were brutally beaten Downey the human supremacy group, the White Hoods. It was a day that scarred him for life, where a peaceful protest rally became an all out brawl. It was that day where he learned that Humans would never accept Faunus as their equals.

Frankly, it irritated him. Why couldn't they see they were being used? Even Ghira, the man who he respected as much as his father, was even considering joining Lucis' military! How could he even think of doing that?! At this rate, things were going to chance in a way that the young child knew would not end well. It was why he came here, after all. Sure, he was a bit young, but he was still the son of a retired, yet experience Huntsman...he could take down at least one Grimm, right?

If he was strong enough, then he'd be able to make a difference for the better with his own two hands.

Most of the Grimm in this part were just Creeps, and small ones, and he's already started to learn the basics of combat. All he needed was a bit of time, patience, and the opportune moment to strike. A knife wasn't the best weapon, but a sword could work well.

He'd have to wait a while before he could obtain that, though. For now, he would focus on the task at hand. He crouched beneath the bushes, peering through the foliage in search of his prey. He remained silent and slowly stalked through the leaves and branches.

'Remember, keep your ear to the ground, blade at the ready,' he remembered what his father and teachers told him. 'Don't hesitate, even for a moment. Wait for the moment to strike...'His body tensed as he kept his blade at ready, ears open for even the slightest sound.

Slowly, he gently slid himself down a small slope of mud, trying his best not to make much noise. His target was one that liked to burrow, so he had to be alert and stealthy. It would be small kills at first...but they would help him get stronger. Soon, he'd be able to move on to bigger prey. For now, though, he would focus on what was in front of him. He heard small rustles coming up from ahead. Tensing, he carefully walked forward, staying low to the ground.

Gradually, the rustles grew closer. The youth gripped his knife in preparation for what would come.

He slowed his breathing, and let his body tense. Flipping the blade in a nervous manner, he slowly peered out. To his luck, it was a Creep. A small one, at that.

The bipedal Grimm had its nose to the ground, as if tracking something.

Good. The boy thought. It was distracted. This would be his chance to sneak up and ambush it. The Creep raised its head into the air to give a growl...only to cease when something larger crushed it into paste.

The boy let out a yelp, falling flat on his rear, and giving himself away. The creature that had crushed the Creep was another Grimm, black fur on its body with an ivory mask over its face, eyes of bloody red glaring at the smoking remains of the Creep before turning to the poor, unfortunate victim it had found due to his yelp, and bared its fangs.

It was a Beowolf. A fully grown one, easily bigger than himself. An Alpha. And that meant it wasn't alone. Behind it, a few other wolves strolled behind.

He cursed in his mind. He was so focused on his target that he forgot to be properly aware of his surroundings. He would've noticed them beforehand if he had! Things had taken a complete turn for the worst! A single, small Beowolf probably wouldn't have been an issue for him. But this? This was a pack of them. Even if they were small in number, they were completely grown!

Too late now. He had to find a way to deal with them. He was small, but he was light on his feet. He had a knife, and his agility could work in his advantage...but the surrounding area, plus the fact that he was in front of a pack, was going to be hard to deal with.

He had to circle around and attack them from behind. That way, he'd take them off guard. With any luck, he'd be able to kill one with a lethal blow before moving onto the next.

The roar of the leader of the pack brought him out of his musings. He cursed, and rolled to the side, avoiding the charge. The Beowolf flung past him, and momentarily stopped. Seeing an opportunity, the boy charged, letting a battle cry, intending to ram the knife into its eye. If he could do that, he could buy himself some time, and try to deal with the others. However, he had not anticipated one of the pack members charged in and ramming its head into him like a bull. He let out a cry, and was flung back, sent tossed to the ground. His body tumbled, and the knife thrown out of his hands.

He hissed in pain as his body felt the impact. He slowly pulled himself up, despite the protest from his limbs. His Aura was still dormant, so he was still susceptible to injuries. Anything fatal would definitely be the end of him.

He pushed himself up on his elbow and knee, and looked up. His eyes widened in fear when he saw the pack slowly approaching, the leader licking its fangs.

So this was it for him? He was...he was really going to die? He was going to out like this?! Surrounded? Beaten? Helpless?! He refused!

He growled, and stood up, glaring back at the Grimm.

There was no way...no way...no way...!

"I'm not..." the boy spat out. "I'm not scared of a bunch of filthy monsters like you!"

The leader of the pack roared, rearing its head, and then lunged for it. The boy was prepared for it, that inevitable moment when it crushed him. However, instead, a single sound sliced through the air, like sharp whistling above his head. His hair swayed, and the greenery shuddered, blowing against a sudden gust.

The alpha of the Beowolves was sliced straight down in half. It's body was sent thrown to the ground, its severed halves dissipating as it crashed and tumbled into the earth. The boy's eyes widened, especially as his golden orbs saw what cut through the beast. It was a single blade, finely crafted, etched in dark silver with a sharp edge, yet slightly dulled with a few scratches. His eyes trailed to who owned the blade. It was a man, somewhere in his mid to late twenties, with a close cut of brown hair, a small stubble a facial hair growing along his chin, and cold, fierce eyes that burned like fire, smoldering with intensity. He wore a simple black jacket and slacks, while underneath the jacket he wore a simple gray shirt.

"...and just when I thought I could enjoy my vacation," the man said solemnly as he slowly walked past the boy, sword in hand, and stared back at the creatures in defiance, who glowered and snarled back at him in animosity. "Part of me wonders if its because Gilgamesh is trying to get back at me from ten years ago. Either way...attacking a child is far from fare, especially unarmed, wouldn't you agree? If memory serves...you are called Grimm, is that correct?"

He received a roar in response, spit flinging from its mouth, which then splattered on his face.

"Hmph...no different from a Daemon, it seems." The beast lunged at the man...only to be quickly sliced diagonally in two with a fluid motion from the man's sword. "As such...Beasts like you deserve naught but death." The boy just stood there, feet rooted into the ground while the man looked back at the boy. "If I were you, little one...I'd go somewhere else," he said before he turned back to the Grimm. One let out a howl, which resounded into the air. He recognized it as a call for help, a way for Beowolves to congregate and gang up on those they deemed threats. "This is no place for one to die."

 **[Play: Gospel of the Throttle - Minutes 'Till Midnight]  
**  
Reluctantly, the boy knew the man was right. From what he knew, things were about to get worse. He got up and ran for shelter. Meanwhile, the man slowly stalked forward, even as the sound of rushing footsteps and howls and roars and snarls echoed behind him, signaling the approach of the rest of the pack.

The man gave a brief glance all around him, taking note of his enemies' positions. There were three to the left of him, two behind him, and two to his right. The leader stood in front of him. He slid his sword into his sheath, and fell into a stance, guarded and ready with a hand on the hilt of the blade.

The leader of the pack gestured to its subordinates that flanked him. Two of the Beowolves on the left and one on the right got the message and proceeded to pounce.

The man didn't move an inch, leaving the boy confused. What was he doing?! He was about to be attacked! Was he really that arrogant?! He knew humans were bad, but this was just idiotic! However, right then, before the child's eyes, a silver streak raced in front of the man, and the Beowolf was severed diagonally, separating the head and its right shoulder and arm from the rest of its body. The other two that followed its charged were also sliced apart in the same manner.

Their bodies fell to the ground and began to break apart into black particles that began to rise into the air, and break down. The other Beowolves became alarmed while the alpha growled. With a series of snapping jaws and growls, the Alpha commanded its brethren to not flee and attack the human. The man seemed to understand what they were planning, and gave a swipe of his sword.

The blade tore through the face of the remaining Beowolf to his right before it quickly changed course and stabbed through the chest of another behind him. With a swift turn on his heel, the man twisted around and threw the Beowolf across the clearing, slamming it against the tree. The Grimm's body fell to the ground in a lifeless heap afterward, its body dissipating into smoke. The man redirected his attention to the Alpha and its remaining pack members.

The Alpha let out a growl, now truly seeing the man as a threat. This time, it was the one who led the charge with its subordinates tailing behind him. The man sheathed his sword again in preparation for the oncoming advance.

"Come," the man baited them. "Show me how you die, Creature of Grimm..." The Alpha Beowolf snarled angrily as it leaped into a frenzied lunge, its brethren following suit.

The boy could only watch in both awe and confusion. The human was like a force of nature with his katana.

But how? How was he so strong? Where did he obtain such strength? And who was he? How could he stare death so strongly in the face? Even now, facing an Alpha of all things, a giant black wolf with thick white armor and spikes on its body, easily bigger than himself, was charging at him, yet he stared back at it as if it were little more than a foe of little consequence! Speed, strength, grace...he possessed all of these traits, and remained stalwart and strong. The boy could only stare at him with large eyes, fixated on his form. The man would withdraw his sword from its sheathe in a split second, so fast that it made it impossible to see until the flash came, and the sword was already in view.

For a moment, time seemed to slow down.

The Alpha and its remaining pack members remained still in the air mid-lunge at that instance of Chrono stasis, their bodies gradually breaking apart as parts became sliced off from the whole all at once. In what seemed to be an infinite number of pieces, the Alpha Beowolf became reduced to nothing.

Knowing that the danger had passed, the man returned his sword to its sheath.

Time then resumed, and the other Beowolves crashed into the ground, their pieces dispersing upon impact.

The boy couldn't believe his eyes. This man...this human had razed all those Beowolves so easily. Just who was he? And where did he get such power?

As the Grimm corpses around him broke apart, the man let out a grunt, shaking his head. "I thought I could enjoy some vacation time here, yet all that greets me is nothing but trouble," he mumbled before he turned on his heel. The boy froze as the man bore into him, a cold look clear on his face. For a moment, he was worried he was about to attack him. He expected as much from a human. However, to his confusion, the man instead moved to the side, and crouched down, picking something up. He stood back up, and then walked over to the boy. He glared back in defiance, and prepared himself for a fight. What did he grab? A rock? Was he going to bash his head in?! His fear and anger faded, however, when the man crouched, and held out a familiar sight - his dagger. "If you came out here, knowing the danger...you should at least keep your weapon close at all times."

"H...huh?" the boy gaped before he shook his head. What the hell was he doing, spacing out like that?! Angrily, he swiped his dagger from the man's grasp, and sheathed it. "S-shut up! No one asked you, human!"

"Just what are you doing out here this deep in the words? I'm sure you're aware that the more dangerous varieties of Grimm tend to flock here, correct?" The man questioned as he didn't break eye contact with the boy.

"It's none of your business!" The boy snapped.

The human, however, remained steadfast. He stared back at the boy before he closed his eyes, and then, to the child's shock, walked past him. "If you're so eager to prove yourself," the man said as he walked away, heading to the village. "Then at least be more careful of your surroundings. And don't be so eager to put yourself in danger, lest you leave your family grieving."

The youth paused for a moment, letting the words sink in, before spinning around with a look of anger on his face. "What do you know, you lousy human?! Your kind makes all of us Faunus grieve for our loved ones and you don't even bat an eye! What right do you even have in saying that?!"

"I don't." The response was so blunt, and so quick, that the boy was caught off guard. The man turned on his heel, and stared back at the boy once again. "Your words hold truth. It is, without a doubt, humans who cause Faunus suffering and hardship...but can you not say the same about Faunus causing grief for humans as well?"

"...What do you mean...?" The red haired boy questioned lowly.

"I am referring to the White Fang. Or rather, the White Fang after Ghira Belladonna stepped down from its leadership."

The White Fang, after Ghira had left, had changed. Originally, it was meant to bridge the gap between humans and Faunus, but the growing tensions had escalated so quickly and violently that many thought it impossible. True, a form of coexistence was made through Lucis' acceptance of them, and their help in expanding Menagerie and granting Faunus roles that would otherwise be unobtainable to them were made a reality. The reason behind the White Fang's current state? The Anti-Lucian Federation, and the White Hoods. Their attacks had grown ever since Lucis entered a partnership with Menagerie, and the Faunus who already hated humans grew ever the more angered. Rather than brutal beatings or slander...lives were lost. Had the White Hoods not exist, perhaps the White Fang would not become so violent.

Ghira certainly shared those feelings. It was why he joined the Kingsglaive, in order to try and make a difference, and knock some damned sense into the idiots who ran the current regime of the White Fang.

A few in Menagerie agreed with the current White Fang, but the majority supported coexistence with humans. A splinter cell was made, sharing Ghira's old ideals, and was run by Krimzen Taurus, Ghira's right hand man...who just so happened to be the boy's father.

Adam Taurus stared back at the man, wincing upon hearing the name of the group who had, in some way, made things more difficult for Faunus. On one hand, he agreed that fighting back was necessary if they were to prove a point...but on the other hand, a small part of him agreed with the man's words. The new White Fang was causing a lot of grief, and if what he heard was true, then they were a bit too radical, killing some of the Faunus who agreed with the splinter cell, who some came to call the Black Fang. Although, the prospect and thought of actually admitting that the White Fang was in the wrong wasn't pleasing, and he sure as hell wasn't about to admit it. Instead, he huffed, and crossed his arms. The man sighed, and turned his back to Adam once again.

"If you want to gain strength, then at least do so knowing what it is you have to do," he advised. "Although...simply killing a few Grimm won't provide you the strength it is you are looking for."

"...Then what will?" The boy asked after a moment of silence. "Aside from the sparring matches at the academy, there is next to nothing here for me to acquire the strength I need."

"Then allow me to ask you this," the man folded his arms. "To you...what is strength?"

Adam frowned. "What...do you mean?"

"Strength comes in many forms. To some, it is power to overwhelm their foes. For others it is a keen intellect for sound strategies and tactics. Others also believe that strength is an ironclad will; unyielding and unbreakable. What do you believe is true strength?" He questioned.

He...hadn't really thought of that before. All this time, he only viewed strength as power. He didn't realize that it could mean other things as well. Even so...didn't he desire to obtain power in the first place? Then why the hesitation?

"If your definition of strength is for the sake of your people, then learn to wield your blade without lashing out," the man told him. Once more, he turned to return, but before he did, he looked over his shoulder. "And, if you wish to learn what strength truly is...then the Kingsglaive will welcome you with open arms. All who seek the meaning of strength in their lives are more than welcome in our ranks."

"...Just who are you...?" Adam finally asked. He really wanted to know. This man...he's strong...he's fully aware of the implications between the radical human and faunus factions...The final bit of the Kingsglaive only spurred his suspicions.

"My name is Cor...Cor Leonis. A member of the Crownsguard."

Once more, silence fell again. Only this time, Adam broke it. "...Adam. Adam Taurus," he said with pride, huffing his chest. "That's my name!"

"I see. So you're Krimzen Taurus' son. Well, you certainly inherited his determination." Cor Leonis, the man known as The Immortal, nodded. "So tell me, Adam Taurus...what is the strength you wish to seek?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Salem had to admit, things were...surprising, to say the least.

Within these past months, quite a number of things had taken place not only around Remnant, but in her own abode as well.

The child that Watts had found two years ago had proven to be useful. The unearthly woman didn't care much for her background, only the obvious drive and power and hunger that she found in those burning, wonderful golden eyes of hers. Her training had begun not long after Salem had judged her accordingly, and so far, the results were promising. Hazel had also introduced someone else, someone she was vastly amused with. Tyrian Callows, a Scorpion Faunus, had a strange obsession with her, calling her a goddess, and devoted his energy to her. Whatever Hazel to him, it provided her with a good pawn to use. His apparent lack of regard of life made him most definitely useful, as well as his fighting capability. Hazel saw it fit to train him himself.

In regards to her plans with Lucis, it was lukewarm at best. There was indeed distrust, but not enough to progress anything. The king had quickly garnered support, and with the exchange of culture, the ties that bound humanity had grown stronger. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the kingdom that came from another world would prove to be a major hinder to her plans. It was a major setback, one that she couldn't ignore. Not only that, but she had vastly underestimated these newcomers. When they arrived, they shook Remnant in so many ways. The Kingsglaive, the royal guard of the Lucian Royal Family, had proved to wield powers similar to that of the Maidens of the Four Seasons, only vastly different in nature. They even utilized crystals in their homeland, gathering nature's power. At first, she thought it was Dust in its most primordial form, but it was not what she thought. When she first tried to harness it for her own purposes, she was met with harsh resistance, as if something had forbidden her from commanding it.

"Lucis..." Salem whispered the name with strange fascination. "Hm...sooner or later, they'll prove to be a hindrance, but...how to approach them? They've gathered the support of the Faunus, even after I managed to sow the seeds of distrust and hate between them and humans, and no doubt learned about me from Ozpin...and even the Grimm are at a disadvantage." That was another problem. With their skills and abilities, the Lucians had vastly outmatched her Grimm. It didn't matter what she threw at them, be it Deathstalkers, Beowolves, Creeps, Nevermores, Griffins; all were reduced to corpses that broke apart. A troubled expression found its way to her face, as well as a sigh. "How annoying...they've proven to be more troublesome that I first thought."

"If they truly are troublesome...may I suggest an alternative course of action, then?" Watts offered his input.

"What do you have in mind, Watts?" The woman asked.

The shrewd man smiled somewhat, straightening out his tie. "From our standpoint, the Kingdom of Lucis have quickly thrown any plans of discord we've had out the window. We've been carefully orchestrating the White Hoods to push the White Fang into its current position, though thanks to the Lucians, many are now in support of Faunus and Human co-existence. Not only that, but the influence of Sienna Khan's White Fang is not as strong as we would have liked. In that case, would it not be more effective to take down the giant at the head?"

"Hmph," Hazel huffed. He had been leaning against a wall off to the side. He was a burly man, wearing a two-tone olive green coat over a black 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a large belt. His pants were black, and his boots were brown with white fronts. His brown hair was slightly disheveled, and his hazel eyes were narrowed into a glare of disapproval. "A worthless idea. From what little I've observed...Regis Lucis Caelum is not one you can defeat with such petty means." He pushed himself off the wall, and stepped in front of his master. "The Glaive and Crownsguard are both threats, especially Cor Leonis, the man they call the Immortal. However, all pale in comparison to the King. His power...is far beyond anything we've seen."

"Then what do you suggest, Hazel?" Watts inquired, stroking his growing mustache. "This isn't a matter of overcoming an obstacle as you so put it once. This is a matter that requires thinking ahead, and what option would be the best."

"As it stands, Lucis is untouchable," Hazel stated. "It would be best to sit and wait. We still know nothing about them, even after two years."

Salem's finger tapped her chin, leaning back. "Hm...an excellent point," she said, nodding. "There is still much to learn. I am most curious about these 'gods' they worship...Watts, what do the Lucians refer to them again?"

"Astrals, mistress. To my knowledge, there are six, each presiding over an element. Although, if these legends are to be believed, then the Astral of fire, Ifrit, betrayed his comrades. If you ask me, it is mere hogwash."

The woman smiled wryly. "Oho? You believe that it is mere nonsense?" she asked in amusement. "Even though you know of the relics, and the maidens?"

"This and that are two different things, milady." Watts bowed his head. "The relics and maidens we know for a fact do exist. However, these...Astrals...have not demonstrated even a sliver of a means of proof to their existence. While the Fairy Tales of Remnant at their core possess their individual truth of existence, these legends only seem to be derived from speculation."

The burly man gave a light scoff. "All legends and myths originate from some form of truth," he said. "Also, there is proof of their existence. The unnatural weather that came with Lucis upon their arrival. Glaciers, earth spires, thunder storms, water twisters...all correlate to them."

"Indeed...do not forget. Myths and legends only begin from somewhere."

Just then, the structure suddenly quivered. A loud, bellowing roar echoed loudly from outside the door, causing the three to turn their attention to it. Salem's eyes widened, and felt her being flare. From outside the door, someone was attacking the Grimm she stationed there. One of her most powerful Grimm: a dragon. One such Grimm slept in Vale, awaiting for when the time to bring Ozpin down to his knees and end Vale once and for all. However, the fact that someone had intruded upon her sanctuary worried her. How had they managed to find this place? None had found it. Not even Ozpin. Yet, somehow...someone was here.

The question...was who was here. Was it someone affiliated with Ozpin? Or was it someone from Lucis?

"Hazel," she commanded. "Watts. Be on your guard."

Slowly she rose from her throne, and felt her power flare into existence. Black and red Aura began to dance around her palms chaotically, begging to be unleashed. Slowly, they made their way toward the gate, where the sound of battle was taking place. Watts fell into a small stance, eyes narrowed with caution while Hazel cracked his knuckles, appearing eager. It had been a while since he was presented the opportunity to fight someone strong. If one had managed to breach into Salem's sanctuary, they must indeed be powerful. Thus he waited in anticipation. The battle grew closer to the gate. The sounds of roars, and explosions, each rocking the sanctuary. Noise continued to run rampant, and with each passing second, Salem grew more and more weary. She felt the Dragon's power waning. That meant whoever was here was strong enough to actually push it back, something no one other than one with Silver-Eyes has accomplished. Then, suddenly...the noises ceased to be. A dead silence filled the room. Hazel and Watts shared a look, wondering if the dragon had conquered its foe, and then turned their attention back to the door. They were about to investigate when Salem felt it.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Impossible..."

The gates were thrown open. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that they were destroyed. A large portion of the wall surrounding the gates were destroyed as her Grimm Dragon crashed straight through, flying right over their heads before falling to the ground, tumbling and bouncing before it ceased. Her subordinates looked at the beast in utter shock. Its skin was burnt horribly, bloody red flames lapping away at its form as it slowly devoured it. Not even the black particles that came when the Grimm began to dissolve were present. It was almost as if the flames were destroying it completely, in all of its entirety. This fact shocked them immensely. Then they the turned their attention to the intruder.

"W-what in the world?!"

In the corridor, two individuals stood. One was a giant being, human in form yet radiating anything but. It stood as tall as her Grimm dragon, with a fierce look resembling that of a feral, maddened beast that had just been awoken from its slumber and insulted in the most horrendous and vile way possible. It had bronze skin, long dark hair, and red eyes. It wore golden wrist and ankle bracers, and a golden crown adorned with red jewels. It had long twisted horns and claw-like nails, giving it the appearance of a devil. It was topless, yet it radiated flames all around it, as if the air itself was blazing with a raging inferno. It its hand was a sword, hilt encrusted with red and white jewels, and what appeared to be a gold and purple scarf wrapped around it, held in place by a gemstone bracelet and a metal chain. The sword's blade was worn, matching the being's scarred body. Its left arm was gray, vaguely resembling stone.

And before it, standing amidst the flaming carnage no doubt wrought by the being...he stood.

"A good day to you, fine madame!"

The being greeted with a smooth, oily voice. He fell into a cordial bow while removing his black fedora. He was a middle-aged man with violet-red hair, amber eyes, and strong facial features. His attire consisted of a long, black jacket with a white and gray trim and matching trousers. He also wore a red scarf and a hooded, gray and white mantle. He also had a strange, black, wing-like accessory on his left arm.

"A fine evening we're having, are we not?" he asked as he straightened his back out, slipping his fedora back on. "I must say, this is quite the paradise you've made! It puts the King of Niflheim's own palace to shame!"

Hazel and Watts prepared themselves for a fight, though the being behind the man growled, swinging its sword threateningly, flames following the gesture. It was clear that it would fight if they intended to harm the man. Meanwhile, Salem narrowed her eyes. "Who...are you?"

"Ah, pardon my manners," the man apologized, chuckling softly. "I had intended to knock, but Ifrit was becoming rather...antsy. That, and that pesky little lizard of yours went and made him mad. He has QUITE the temper, you know. He wasn't called the Infernian for nothing." Watts' eyes widened, while Hazel became tense, and Salem became all the more alert. Ifrit. The name Watts had mentioned earlier in regards to the Astrals. If that flaming devil was indeed the one who betrayed its fellow gods...then the man before it was not as ordinary as he seemed. "Allow me to introduce myself properly!"

Once more, he fell into a bow.

"Former Chancellor of Niflheim, adviser to his once glorious imperial majesty Iedolas Aldercapt...at your service."

Then he raised his head, hand on his fedora. Suddenly, when he revealed his face, Salem's heart became rooted with fear, something she hadn't felt for a long, long time. His skin became deathly pale, almost as white as snow, and his eyes changed. They retained that amber color, but the white sclera became muddy black. Liquid poured down from his eyes, not as tears but as something else. Like a flow of muck that stained his face like tar. The presence he exuded was much more vile than anything she had ever encountered. A toothy grin formed on his face, slowly morphing into a menacing look that could only send shivers down her spine.

 **"And I've come...to strike a bargain."**

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 _XXXXXXXXXX_

 _After so many years, the Kingdom of Lucis had entered into the Vytal Treaty, and thus established as the fifth kingdom of Remnant. With its appearance, changes have spread. Technology has advanced, new agriculture introduced, as well as new energy resources made possible through the elemental node caches in the Duscae region. Menagerie has expanded, establishing its own training academy, and a global trading center, becoming a place of free marketing. However, resistance is not without absence. Those who have lost loved ones due to their appearance, the Anti-Lucian Federation, rally against them, backed by the White Hoods, the anti-Faunus extremist organization. And within the shadows, a great danger lurks, about to rear its head to Remnant._

 _One story ends...and now, a new one is about to begin._

 _XXXXXXXXXX_

 _"The Legends meet its match. But...the world is ever changing._  
 _For the fifteenth coming."_

 **-ARC II: Beacon Academy-**

 **COMING SOON**


	6. Chapter 6

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 ** _"The Legends meet its match."_**

XXXXXXXXXX

 _The pale shattered moon hung above in the cold black sky while a cold wind lashed against the two figures, standing atop what appeared to be an_ Altesian _Airship. Below them, the scene of an inferno could be found. Buildings were crumbling. Flames were left to run rampant, consuming everything in sight. People were screaming, running away from the unseen threat that chased them down, threatening to end their lives and snuff out the light. However, for the time being, this was ignored by the two individuals, who held a sword in hand._

 _At the very front of the airship was a figure garbed almost completely in white. A long coat covered the majority of their being, ending at the calves with black trims and highlights, mostly prominent around the hood that obscured their face and the cuff of the sleeves, stripes running down each side and to the cuff. Covering their hands were black gloves, marked by a white design resembling a fractured crystal. Underneath the coat was a neck muffler, combined with what appeared to be a dark gray suit, plus white pants with a pouch strapped to the thigh. Their face was obscured by a black mask, bearing only eyeholes for vision and false teeth resembling fangs as if invoking the image of a ferocious beast. Stretching out behind him was a single black mist, vaguely in the shape of a wing. In his hand was a black broadsword, the blade approximately two and a half feet in length. The guard was concave upward and resembled a pair of feathered wings. Marking the flat of the blade were red circles, which seemed to glow evilly._

 _Opposing him was a young man with spiky black hair and glowing red eyes. In contrast to the masked man who dressed in white, the young man was wearing black. He wore a black jacket with skull-motif buttons and sequenced details on the pockets. He kept it unzipped and the tag on the zipper also had a small skull. Underneath, he wore a steel gray shirt with skull prints. The young man wore black cropped trousers and black buckled boots with red soles. He also wore a black motorcycle glove on his left hand. In contrast to the black sword held by the masked man, he carried a beautiful white sword, almost silvery with a black handle and a broad pommel with pointed edges. It was the size of a standard broadsword, yet an almost ephemeral glow radiated from it._

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **"But...the world is ever changing."**_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Below the airship, standing in the sea and in the midst of a cold rain and thunderstorm, two mighty beasts did battle. The first was a gigantic creature, demonic in appearance with large shoulders that stretched out like pauldrons, yet at the same time resembling flytraps due to the jagged fangs that seemed to interlock with one another. A glowing red orb sat in the center of its chest, and had small arms in comparison to the rest of its body, having sharp curved claws. What appeared to be a flaud covered the waist while its head was gaping open like a mouth, revealing sharp teeth and another mouth inside, albeit smaller in comparison, and a red orb, as if acting like an eye, sitting at the top of the first mouth._

 _Facing it, and back facing the besieged city, was a gargantuan colossal, humanoid in form. Its skin was dark brown, white tribal markings covering its body while earthly protrusions extended out from it at certain parts of its body, even poking out from the right side of its face. It was built like a pro wrestler, muscular in tone and with a gaunt face with a parted mouth, revealing gritted teeth while a red eye glared back at the creature in righteous fury. It held its fists up, as if ready to engage in a fight._

 _Back at the airship, the two males were ready to engage in battle. The masked man held his sword up before his face before falling into a stance, the misty black wing dispersing behind him before a dark aura cloaked his being. The young man's grip on his sword tightened before he too took a combat stance, parting his legs and ready to leap. They glared back at one another, intentions clear. Several seconds past while the cold wind and icy rain fell upon them._

 _Then, as a single drop struck the hull, the two shot forward, causing the sheet of water below them to part and splash in grand fashion behind them, trailing a path before they clashed swords, blowing the sheet of water below them completely off the hull._

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **"For the fifteenth coming."**_

XXXXXXXXXX

 **Chapter I: Prince**

"...oct? Nooooct! Hello, earth to Noct!"

The loud yell, accompanied by the sudden harsh light that struck his eyes, forced Noctis Lucis Caelum awake, groaning as he opened his eyes, revealing blue eyes before raising a hand to shield his eyes from the light. The leather seat beneath him squeaked as he sat up, rubbing his eyes while waiting for them to get adjusted. "What is it, Prompto?" he asked tiredly. "We there yet?"

"Not even!" a cheery male voice responded. "But we are getting close to the garage!"

The black-haired teen soon became adjusted to the light. His surroundings became more clear. He was inside a sleek car, albeit not as grand as the on they were going to pick up. Alongside himself, there were five people. The driver was a Glaive, evident by the black uniform and hood attached, having one side of his head shaven and bearing a gruff yet well-shaven beard. At the passenger side was a man in his early twenties, wearing a leather short-sleeved jacket and a black v-neck underneath. A scar ran down his left eye, which was colored amber like the right. His hair was brown, the front slicked back while the rest fell past his shoulders.

Next to Noctis was the one talking to him. He was around the same age as him, with messy blonde hair. The majority of the blonde hair fell around the right side, barely obscuring his right eye, colored blue. He wore a black vest over a simple white shirt, along with denim jeans and brown boots. An excited grin was on his face, a camera held in his jittery hands. On the other side of the car was a man, two years older than Noctis and the blonde, and dressed more professionally. His light brown hair was swept up, but obviously well groomed. Square-framed glasses sat atop his nose and over his green eyes. He wore a simple black jacket over a white dress shirt, coupled with dark jeans and black leather shoes.

For his part, Noctis was dressed similarly in black. He wore a leather coat with short sleeves and a high collar, two pouchs hanging around his waist and to the left. His hands were garbed in black gloves with silver bracelets wrapped tightly around each. Below, he wore baggy black jeans and thick black boots that crawled up the heels, tightly bounded in lace.

"Had a nice nap, Your Highness?" Nyx Ulrich, the driver, asked with a hint of a smile. "Better sleep while you can. I hear the drive to Vale is particularly a long one."

Noctis sighed. "Oh, joy..."

"C'mon man...you slept enough as it is, already." Prompto nudged him by the shoulder. "I mean, this is our first trip outside the Kingdom and into Vale! If you sleep through it all, you're gonna miss everything! We're even gonna see Ruby and Yang again! How can you not be excited by this?!"

"I think you're excited for the both of us, buddy. Because of that, I don't have to be..." Noctis yawned.

The man in the passenger seat chuckled. "Still a sleepy head, eh Noct?"

"Bite me, Gladio."

The glasses-wearing man sighed softly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Come now, Noct," he said in an almost scolding sort of way. "Sleeping so much is quite unhealthy."

"What are you, my mother?" the black-haired prince asked, though inwardly he was smiling. It would have been more accurate to say that the man was more or less his nanny. "You worry too much, Ignis."

The three companions and members of the Crownsguard could only shake their heads at Noctis' response, but regardless, they were happy. Even Noctis himself felt excited. Their destination was the garage not far into the borders of Lucis, which their new means of transportation would be waiting. A 'farewell' gift from his father, though it could hardly be called that. Really, it wasn't like he was leaving for good. If anything, it was more like a vacation...albeit a boring one. The drive was animated and entertaining enough to leave him awake, though it was mostly kept going by Prompto.

"I can't wait to see what Beacon's like!" he said, bouncing in his seat. "I can't believe we're actually going, either!"

"It's hardly surprising," Ignis said. "The Cultural Exchange program, while new, is an excellent way to build trust between Lucis and the Four Kingdoms." He paused before looking out the window. As they were on the driveway, one could see nearly all of Lucis. It was a grand, magnificent sight to behold. It was grand enough to put the agricultural cityscapes of Vacuo or the modern beauty of Vale to shame, and that was saying something. The glasses-wearing man pointed at one of the buildings currently in construction. "That, and Glaive Academy is still in the middle of being constructed."

"Sounds like convenience for some kind of divine providence to me," Gladio responded. "By the way, this gift from His Majesty...did he say what is was other than that we actually own it?"

"Maybe its a boat?" Prompto offered.

Noctis chuckled. "In that case, he can have it back."

"Ooh, ouch. That's cold, Noct."

"What? I'm just saying...wait, does the old man actually own a boat?"

Nyx nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. "As a matter of fact, he does," he answered. "Though I can assure you, its not a boat. In fact, its something you, especially," he turned to look at his prince and gave him a wink. "Will enjoy."

"Uh-oh," Gladio grinned. "Sounds like we better keep it away from Noct."

"Hey!" The prince exclaimed in indignation. What was that supposed to mean?

"Knowing you...you'd probably just hog it all to yourself."

Prompto laughed at this, while Ignis had a hint of a smile on his face. Noctis scowled and looked away, pouting childishly. As he did so, however, his eyes found themselves staring at the vast expanse of Lucis and its territories, stretching out as far as the eye could see. He could even barely make out the thin outline of the blue ocean that stretched out to what would soon be his home for the next two years. "This is gonna be one heck of a roadtrip," Prompto said, also staring out at the sight. "Huh, Noct?"

"Yeah..." A smile made its way on his face. Despite his expression, he felt excitement well up within him. He was actually pretty glad Prompto woke him up for this, otherwise, he'd miss it.

The blonde was even taking a picture of it as they speak.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hammerhead Garage.

That was what the sign said as the group of five reached their destination. As they stopped, they all stepped out of the vehicle and took a look around. On their left was a convenience store with a gas station next to it, and to their right was the garage itself. It was a fairly large building with enough room to house three cars to work on at once. A figure left the building and approached them.

"About damn time you got here!"

The group stopped what they were doing and turned to the approaching individual.

Approaching them was an old man, evident by the gray hairs on his beard and mustache, plus the sunken cheeks and wrinkled skin. He wore a cap with a black flap and red top, bearing the insigna of Hammerhead, plus a red jacket left open to reveal a white shirt with the same logo, plus denim jeans with grease stains and splatters along with leather boots and gloves, the latter of which also stained with grease. In one hand, he was carrying a wrench. Over his aging lips was a wide, lopsided grin.

"Hey, old man," Nyx greeted as they vacated the car. "You're doin' well."

"Hey now," the old man said wryly. "Just 'cause I'm old doesn't mean I can't kick your ass, Glaive or no." He then turned to the Crownsguard and Prince, offering another grin. "Well well, look what the cat dragged in. Haven't seen you boys in ages."

Ignis bowed his head respectfully. "It's been a while, Cid."

"Yeah. Haven't seen you since you dropped by Insomnia for Noct's birthday." Gladio added.

"Good to see ya, Cid." Prompto waved before looking around. "By any chance, is Cindy here with you?"

The three rolled their eyes, completely aware of Prompto's infatuation. It was pretty much obvious that he had a crush on the man's granddaughter. Cid just chuckled, tilting his head to the garage door. "In the back, working on Reggy's gift for ya," he said before looking at Noct. "For the record, this ain't no ordinary gift, Prince. This is more like an old heirloom."

"Heirloom?" Noctis quirked an eyebrow. "What, like a hand-me-down?"

"Even better," the grease monkey smirked. "A classic." He then turned to the garage. "Cindy! She ready yet?!"

"Just about, Paw-Paw!" A female voice with a southern accent hollered out from within the garage. The source of the voice then stepped out of the door of the garage and approached them. She was a slender woman with short, curly blonde hair and olive green eyes. She wore a red cap with yellow outlines and a logo with the words "HAMMER HEAD" and "FULL-SERVICE STATION" across the front, and a pair of black goggles hung around her neck. She was clad in a cropped yellow jacket that exposed her midriff and zipped just a few inches below her breasts, revealing an orange bikini top with deep decolletage. She also wore a pair of jean shorts with a brown belt hanging loosely around her hips, thigh-high black stockings, white high boots on heels, and a pair of brown gloves.

As soon as she came into view, Prompt's cheeks tinged pink, and could have sworn he felt his heart skip a beat. "Hey, y'all," Cindy greeted the boys with a grin. "Haven't seen you since the Prince's birthday!"

"We know," Gladio chuckled. "Looks like you're doing well."

"Yeah. Business has been booming fairly well with the exchange program going on. Not to mention the Prince's present from King Regis."

Cindy then grinned as she turned her head to the garage. "Speaking of which," She gave a whistle. As soon as she did, the group heard the sound of an engine roaring.

The Crownsguard, plus the Prince, all felt their eyes widening when a beautiful, black vehicle pulled out from the garage, pulling up just a ways into the driveway. Cid flicked his nose, beaming with pride. "This work for a farewell gift, yer Highness?" he asked jokingly, enjoying the stunned look on Noctis' face.

"I-is that..." Gladio gawked. "A car?"

"That ain't any ordinary car," Prompto breathed. "That's a Type-42 Regalia!" He practically rushed up to the metal artwork, examining it yet refraining from touching it as if it were a holy relic. "And in prime condition too!" He turned to the group, grinning like an idiot. "Dude, this is freaking cool! We've got a vintage car!"

"Calling it a vintage," Ignis said slowly, pushing up his glasses. "Is sacrilege, Prompto. I am amazed, though. I wasn't aware his majesty had a car like this."

"Took Paw-Paw and I a long time to get it back in working order," Cindy giggled. "That, and giving it an extra 'umph.' As far as we're considered, the Regalia's a collector's item now."

"And then some!" Cid declared with pride. "You better take care of her, otherwise I'm skinning yer hides, ya hear?"

Noctis, still stunned, nodded. "...crystal."

"Well, guess my job's done here, then," Nyx said. He then turned to the Prince, offering his hand. "Have a good time at Beacon, Your Highness. And remember, you and your friends are representing Lucis out there, so please...don't do anything embarrassing."

The prince grinned. "You do realize that'll make me want to do it even more, right?"

"Oh, I'm aware," the Glaive chuckled before the two shook his hands. They then parted, leaving Nyx to return to the car. "And be sure to say hi to Tai's kids for me!" With that, he got back into his car, and began to pull away, leaving Noctis and his friends with their new vehicle.

"She almost looks too pretty for the road..." Gladio stated as he examined the vehicle.

"Dude...this is so amazing!" Prompto continued to gush over at the Regalia. "C'mon! We gotta take a picture!" He held up his camera while he made his way over to Cindy. "Do you mind, Cindy?"

"Not at all, Prompto." The mechanic took the item in hand. After the photographer instructed her how to work the camera, he backed up and got into position for the photo. The other three followed suit at their own spots by the car.

Noctis sat down in front of the car with a knee propped up in front of his chest and an arm dangling over it. Meanwhile Prompto, who was right next to him, smiled as widely as possible, putting on a flamboyant pose with his arms stretched out, kneeling in place. Ignis and Gladio were on either side of the Regalia, with Ignis standing next to the driver side door, arms folded with a hint of a smile on his face while the muscular man grinned, leaning on the hood with an arm propped up on it.

"On three, say Chocobo~" Cindy said. "One, two...three!"

"CHOCOBO!"

*flash*

XXXXXXXXXX

The Intercontinental roadways.

At first, one might think of trains, passing through the vast oceans that separated the five kingdoms of Remnant. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, it was a giant series of roads that stretched over the ocean. The idea was first proposed by Nicholas Schnee prior to his retirement and still well within his prime, who wanted easy transportation of goods and even communication and visitation between the four kingdoms, though technical difficulties had rendered the idea nigh useless and forced back by 'difficulties.' However, with the appearance of Lucis and its technological advancements, including their usage of magic, the idea was returned and implemented, completed well within the decade.

As a result, business and transportation of goods had skyrocketed significantly, leading every business to see the improved results. It was one of the many factors that led to easy relations with Lucis.

"Now this is a view!" Prompto said, snapping several pictures as they cruised along one of the many roads leading to Vale. "Nothing but four guys on a roadtrip with a camera and an ocean right out in front of them!"

"I'd hardly call this a roadtrip," Gladio said, though even he was taking the sights. "But I gotta admit...hard to beat this kind of view." He then looked at their designated driver, Ignis. Noctis opted to drive, but Ignis had more or less put his foot down, given the prince's rather...slightly unsavory driving record. "So, Iggy...how long 'till we hit Beacon?"

The man quickly checked the GPS installed into the car. "I'd say...within an hour or so," he answered. "Remember everyone, be on your best behavior when we meet with the Headmaster. Ulrich was not kidding when he said we are representing Lucis."

"We know already, Ignis...You, Commander Titus, and my dad have all but drilled that into our heads." Noctis replied as his attention was to the passing scenery.

"I am merely reminding you all to ensure that our interactions with the Headmaster will go smoothly. You are almost an adult now, Noct. Before you know it, you will be the one sitting on the Throne."

Noctis said nothing. However, out of the corner of his eyes, Ignis did notice Noctis' look of irritation. He fully understood why. As prince, it would be his duty to lead Lucis when his father would step down. However, such a time would no doubt be a long ways off, and the young teen had wanted the chance to stay his current course a little while longer. It was also the reason why he accepted the offer to stay at Beacon for the next two years of his life, a chance to continue his normal life. While Lucis was certainly no longer under threat of invasion, there was still politics to consider. Those were matters Noctis was forced to learn, and loathed.

Thus, for the time being, he wanted to avoid his title as prince and enjoy his two year sanction as simply Noctis Lucis Caelum.

"...say," Prompto spoke up, noticing the awkward silence. "What do you think Ruby and Yang are doing?"

Gladio looked over his shoulder, curious. "They're the two girls you met back when you a kid, weren't they?" he asked, earning a nod from Noctis. "How'd you meet them, anyway?"

"Their parents are friends with a couple of the guys from the Glaive," Prompto told him before he laughed. "Hey, Noct. Remember how devastated Yang looked when she found out you had a thing for Lunafreya?"

At the mention of the Tenebraean princess, Noctis' face turned cherry red. Gladio, however, developed a mischevious look on his face. "Oho...do tell, Prompto."

"Okay, so get this! First time Yang and Noct meet, it was like love at first sight for her! I mean, she was TOTALLY head over heels for him! I mean, heck, there was batting eyelashes and everything!"

"...Prompto," Noctis growled. "I am going to kill you."

"I know you won't. You love me too much to do that." The blonde teen chuckled. The Prince face palmed in annoyance as he felt a migraine coming on. He really hated it when Prompto kept bringing this story up. It was ancient history!

Besides, he was pretty sure Yang had gotten over her crush over him anyways. It was when they were kids. He doubted she would even remember stuff like that from so long ago anyways.

And then there was Yang's little sister and Summer's daughter, Ruby, who more or less inherited her mother's intense love for weapons. Ruby was a nervous bundle when they first met, hiding behind her father's leg, but she had quickly bonded with him if only because of his Engine Blade.

The last time he had seen the two half-siblings was years ago. Yang would have only just started her second year at Signal Academy. No doubt Ruby was still at Patch, training under Qrow. He didn't know much about the scythe meister, other than that Nyx described him as a flirting drunk. Noctis immediately compared him to Prompto, only without the drunk part and less of a flirt, since the photographer and sharpshooter had eyes only for a certain mechanic girl.

Still though, it'd be nice to meet with them again. They can finally catch up after all these years. He honestly wondered what they've been up to since then.

"Speaking of Lunafreya," Gladio chipped in. "When's the wedding?"

Noctis sighed, throwing his hands up in the air. "What is this, pick on the prince day?" he asked in exasperation. "I literally turned 18 two months ago, Gladio. Marriage is still a long ways off."

"Love is never a long ways off," Prompto chirped. "Anyway, what's Beacon gonna be like?"

"Well, from what my Dad told me during his visit to Vale once, he said that it was a large building on a similar scale to the Palace. At the center of it all was a Tower overlooking it all, with a large glowing beacon on the top." Gladio explained. "He also said that words alone aren't enough to properly describe it. That we'd have to see it for ourselves."

Prompto blinked. "...so its like a castle?"

"Why don't you look for yourself?" Ignis suggested. "Beacon should be visible from here, assuming that camera of yours has a zoom function that far."

"Of course it does." Prompto replied as he activated said function. As soon as he did, his jaw immediately dropped in awe.

"...Noct, He said slowly. "I think you might wanna see this."

Noctis raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless accepted the camera. Prompto then guided him to where Beacon was.

When Noctis saw the academy through the lens of the camera, his jaw dropped in a similar manner to his best friend's. Gladio was right...words alone could barely do it justice.

"...well, this should be interesting."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Oooooh, I can't believe my baby sister's going to Beacon with me!"

An exuberant voice exclaimed as the source of said voice was holding onto a smaller figure in a crushing bear hug. She was a young girl with fair skin with lavender eyes and long, curly blonde hair that transitioned to gold at the tips. It hung loose and fell down to her hips. She wore a tan jacket with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this she had a low cut yellow crop top with her emblem on the left breast in black, and a pair of black mini-shorts. She also had a brown belt with a pleated brown piece of material covering her from hip to hip attached to the rear of the belt, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this was a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side. She wore brown, knee high boots and orange over the knee socks, with the right sock pushed down to below the knee. A gray bandana was tied around her left knee. An orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.

"Please stooooop...!" Choked out the petite girl being hugged to death.

The girl in question was small in comparison to the blonde, wearing a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, completed by a red, hooded cloak. Her entire outfit is made up of various shades of red and black with black as the primary color on the main suit and red on the cloak. Even her shoulder-length hair was black with a red tint to it. She had cross-shaped pins holding her cloak to her shirt. Around her waist was a belt which holds large cartridges in individual loops, as well as a magazine pouch. She has a silver rose emblem on her belt. Her eyes were colored silver, and her hair was black, albeit with red at the tips.

The blonde did as she was asked and pulled away, her face one of absolute gush and glee. "But I'm so proud of you!"

"R-really, sis," the silver-eyed girl insisted. "It was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible!" She continued to gush. "Everyone at Beacon's going to think you're the bee's knees!"

"I don't want to be the "bee's knees", okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees!" Ruby shook her head. "I just want to be a normal girl, with normal knees."

Her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, cocked her head. "What's with you?" she asked out of confusion. For as long as she's known Ruby, she's always talked about going to Beacon, especially when she learned that Yang herself was accepted. Really, she would not shut up about it. Then again, it was understandable why she wanted to go. It was the school where their parents attended and kicked ass...if the stories her uncle Qrow told her were to be believed. "Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I'm excited..." Ruby retorted before her expression grew solemn. "I just...I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything..." She didn't want people to think she skipped ahead due to some special treatment. She wanted everyone to treat her like an equal, that she made it into Beacon through her own abilities.

"But you ARE special..." Yang walked up next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder in a comforting manner.

Ruby looked at her sister, still unsure, but she eventually gave a defeated sigh. She eventually looked out the glass window, which showed the world around them from outside the Bulkhead. It was hard to believe at first, but...she was here. She was really here.

She was going to Beacon.

'Huh,' A curious thought suddenly entered her head, making her think. 'I wonder where His Highness is right now?' As soon as the question passed, she couldn't help but giggle, earning a curious look from her sister. 'Probably sleeping like he always does...wonder what Lady Luna and Yang saw in him?'

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: School Day Hijinks**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Author Notes: Hey Everyone, This is Daemon of Wrath here. Now, some of you may be wondering about why the original chapter six of the story, the Interlude we had, was deleted a while ago. Well...**

 **Demons Anarchy of Pride: Sadly, the chapter we worked on was...well, we fucked up. Huge. Mainly because of me. *sigh* I'm just hoping I didn't fuck us over with the new chapter, which I doubt any who are curious and go to see what it is will find, as it has been deleted. It introduced a group of characters, but reception was...shit, quite frankly. Plus, I had forgotten...that the chapter wasn't meant how they were supposed to be introduced! I had forgotten the original idea and pushed that mess onto my friend, and I feel like I just fucked over all the hard work we put into.**

 **Daemon of Wrath: Don't beat yourself up, Demons, I am also partially responsible. I should've brought it up beforehand before we went too far with it, but I was also caught up with the interlude. Not to mention, Gilgamesh's portrayal in that Interlude was COMPLETELY off than what was stated in the Wiki. So the Interlude would not have worked at all. So basically, any and all elements that were shown in the Interlude was non-canon from this point on. Everything the few of you read from the Interlude, we kindly ask you all to forget about it as those events no longer have anything to do what we plan for the actual plot of this story, thank you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Fire Emblem: Eternity Unto Reformation, Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, The Crow: DxD, Highschool, DxD: Shatter Destiny, RWBY's Reaper, Code Geass 00, Fractured Reality, Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack, Devil Survivor: Destiny Rewind, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, Code Geass: The Butterfly Effect, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, A Dragon Darker than Black, Code Geass: Kill the Rebellion, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Persona 3: Death Overture, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, and more.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust:**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter II: School Day Hijinks**

 _(Flashback, Several Years Ago)_

 _"L-Luna! Slow down!"_

 _The young prince of Lucis could only pant as he ran through the gardens of the palace, trying to catch up to a young girl with platinum blonde hair and wearing a white dress, who quickly outpaced the boy with a large smile on her face._

 _"Come on, Noctis! Hurry!" The girl giggled in excitement as she continued to run ahead._

 _The raven haired boy groaned as he forced his legs to move faster. He tried his best to keep up, but Luna outclassed him on speed._

 _Then again, that was natural. He had finally been removed of the wheelchair he was forced into after that accident last year. To this day, his father still felt guilty for allowing it to happen. For now, though, he would try his best. The guard watching them, Cor Leonis, was looking on with a small smile on his face. It was nice to see the two children getting along. He did notice the prince lacking a bit, but then again, he was finally back up on his legs after a year or so. It would probably take a few more weeks before his legs could be back in actual working order, and a few months to regain the lost strength._

 _As he watched them, he looked at the small boy who sat on the steps leading into the living room. "Aren't you going to join them, Argentum?" he asked, causing the rather plump boy to jump and look at the Marshal nervously. "You don't have to be so jumpy all the time. This is the Palace."_

 _"I-I know, but..." the young_ Prompto _stammered, poking his index fingers. "I-I can't help but feel nervous."_

 _Cor chuckled a bit. To be frank, he hadn't expected the boy to be here at all. In fact, the only reason he was brought here was_ because _he had apparently made friends (to some extent anyway) with Noctis, and had attended to Luna's dog, which had somehow wounded its leg. As thanks, Luna requested his presence. However, he had been nothing but a bundle of nerves, anxious and jumpy at every little thing._

 _"There is no need to be so anxious. Lady Lunafreya and Prince Noctis already see you as a friend. And_ Pryna _is more than happy for you to join them." The_ Crownsguard _replied._

 _"Y-yeah...but..." The blonde was still nervous. Compared to the Prince_ and and Lady _Lunafreya...he was completely average. He still couldn't understand why they would accept him as a friend. He gripped his covered right wrist out of habit._

 _Cor gave a curious glance, but shrugged it off as a verbal tick. He then turned his attention to the two members of royalty frolicking around before he felt someone coming up from behind. It was the youngest member and newest recruit of the Crownsguard, Gladiolus Amicitia. His form was lithe yet athletic, shown slightly by the impressive muscles that were exposed by his sleeves being rolled up to the elbows. Since he was newly inducted and more of a trainee than an actual member, he wore a dark gray coat with black pants and leather boots, a standard-issue blade strapped to his back. However, behind him was a face that the Marshal had seen only once before._

 _"You are..._ Qrow _Branwen, correct?"_

 _The man let out a chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "So, King Regis' right-hand man actually knows me?" he asked. "Kind of honored. Pleased to meet you for once, Marshal."_

 _"Likewise." The Crownsguard extended his hand in greeting. Qrow took it and shook it firmly. "His majesty, Commander Drautos, and members of the Kingsglaive have spoken highly about you and your team."_

 _"That right?" He Huntsman asked in curiosity. "How are Nyx and the others doing these days?"_

 _"As well as you'd expect," he said with mirth. He then looked at the young Amicitia. "Gladiolus, what brings you here?"_

 _Gladio sighed. "Unfortunately, Mr. Branwen brought his nieces with him," he said, earning a curious look from Cor. He knew that Qrow had a sister named Raven, who was apart of the same team as him, but he was not aware she had been married or had children. Unlike the aforementioned members of the Glaive, he knew little about Team STRQ, and what little he did know was in passing. "And they suddenly went missing when they're...pet chocobo ran off."_

Qrow _shook his head. "I told Yang to leave it at home, but do you think she listens?"_

 _As the adults talked, Noctis and Luna stopped, choosing to take a break. It was then that the two noticed_ Prompto _, sitting_ at _the steps with a nervous look. "What are you doing here by yourself?" the young princess of Tenebrae asked, causing the boy to jump when they noticed them approaching. "Come now, why don't you play with us?"_

 _"W-well, I..."_

 _*chirp*_

 _The three children blinked. Slowly, their heads turned, and to their utter surprise, a small baby Chocobo was waddling around, not far from where they are, heading into the somewhat thick garden. "A Chocobo?" Noctis said. "How'd it get in here?"_

 _"It must have sneaked its way in here," Prompto suggested. The chick noticed them, and gave another chirp before it headed into the garden. Instantly, he panicked. "W-wait!" Without thinking, Prompto's instincts from when he took care of Luna's white dog kicked in, and suddenly found his chubby body on autopilot, chasing after the chick. Noctis and Luna were quick to follow after him, and soon the three vanished into the garden._

 _XXXXXXXXXX_

 _Prompto was by no means a fast or active child. He ate well, failed to take part in true physical activity due to his shyness. However, it was his compassion for animals that spurred him to move quickly. Hoping to catch up with the Chocobo chick before it got hurt._

 _The garden wasn't quite big enough to be called a maze, but it was still easy to get lost in. Luna and Noctis were still behind him while chasing after the chick, which seemed to be skipping and hopping and dashing at different intervals in time. As they turned around a bush, they found it stopping in the middle of a semi-open space._

 _"N-no," Noctis panted. "No more running...please?"_

 _The blonde boy mentally agreed with him, too bust catching his breath to utter a verbal response. He gasped as he tried to get oxygen into his lungs, his hands resting on his knees and body hunched over. Now that they stopped, he realized just how exhausting the trek from the Palace was. He considered getting in better shape. Or at least cut back on the snacks._

 _The baby Chocobo turned, chirping at the three. "Now now, little one," Lunafreya said gently, slowly approaching the small chick. "We won't harm you."_

 _"Eins?!" The children blinked once again, hearing an unfamiliar voice call out. "Eins, where are you?!" Stumbling through the bushes were two children, falling to the ground in a heap. One was a girl, nine or ten years old, with black hair with a tint of red wearing a small red sweater and black shorts with black and red sneakers, and the other, who was two years older, had blonde hair, wearing a yellow top with white shorts and sandals. "Owwie..."_

 _"That hurt..." The blonde girl muttered as she pulled herself up. She then turned to the younger girl next to her. "Are you alright, Ruby?"_

 _"Sort of..." The small child whined as she held her leg. Her knee was scraped up from falling on the stone floor._

 _The baby Chocobo let out a chirp of alarm as it wobbled over to the girls. Upon noticing its approach, the small girl's eyes widened, face lighting up. "EINS!" In seconds, she was holding the small chick, nuzzling her cheek against it. For a moment, the_ royals _and boy thought it was purring in delight. "Oh, you little scamp! You had us worried!"_

 _"I take it the little one is yours?" Lunafreya asked, alerting the girls of their presence._

 _The small child jumped and moved to hide behind the older girl. The blonde sighed before nodding. "Yeah, he is. Eins is our pet Chocobo. Our uncle_ Qrow _gave him to us on my birthday."_

 _"Crowe?" Noctis tilted his head. "But...I thought Crowe was a girl."_

 _The blonde girl giggled. "N-no, our uncle's a guy," she said. "Though I do think he mentioned he had a friend with the same name. Oh, I'm Yang! This is Ruby!" The little girl squeaked, trying to hide further when the blonde tried to push her up front. She then gestured to the_ chocobo _in her hand. "And this is Eins!"_

 _*chirp*_

 _"A pleasure," Luna smiled. "I'm Lunafreya Nox_ Flueret _."_

 _"Noctis," the black-haired boy nodded. "N-Noctis Lucis Caelum."_

 _The pudgy boy realized it was his turn to introduce himself, and bowed. "I-I'm_ Prompto _!"_

 _"It's nice to meet you all." The blonde girl smiled brightly "So...what are you three doing all the way out here?"_

 _"We...actually live here," Noctis said. "Well, not in the garden, but my family owns it. Luna is my friend, and so is_ Prompto _."_

 _"Really?" the small girl asked shyly before her eyes widened. "Wait...when you say, you live here...does that mean you're...?!"_

 _"There you three are!" The children looked behind them to find the three adults rushing towards them with looks of relief and panic. Gladio, for his part, looked the most concerned. "Good grief, next time you guys run off, warn us!"_

 _The black-haired boy had the decency to look slightly abashed while_ Prompto _looked panicked, wondering how they were supposed to explain themselves before_ Qrow _noticed the girls and grinned. "Ah, so this is where the two of you were."_

 _"UNCLE QROW!"_

 _Both girls rushed past the three and stopped hugged the Huntsman, Eins chirping happily on Yang's shoulder._

 _"W-whoa, easy!"_ Qrow _laughed, nearly knocked down. "Jeez, I told you to stick with me."_

 _"We know that!" Yang huffed. "But Eins went missing!"_

 _"And that's why I told you to leave him at home with your dad, Firecracker."_

 _Yang puffed her cheeks. "Don't call me that!"_

 _"But Eins wanted to come with us!" Ruby pouted. The little Chocobo chirped loudly as if agreeing with her. "See? He wanted to visit Lucis, too."_

 _Cor quirked an eyebrow while Gladio chuckled. "A bunch of lively brats, aren't they?" he asked. "Well, I need to get going. I need to give my report to my fa-er, Sir Clarus."_

 _"Alright then," Cor nodded. "Dismissed."_

 _Gladio bowed his head before turning to Noctis. "...and don't think you're off the hook for practice this afternoon, Your Highness," he said with a comical jab, causing the prince to flinch. "Need to get those legs back in shape."_

 _"..._ _devil." The Prince muttered under his breath, earning another jab from the teen._

 _"I heard that, Your Highness. It's for your own good, you know. Can't have the Prince of Lucis out of shape, now."_

 _At this, Yang and Ruby suddenly stopped with their earlier actions, craning their heads at the boy. Had they heard that right?_ Qrow _, noticing their looks, chuckled. "Oh, right, you girls haven't met him yet," he said, pushing them forward. "Girls, this is Prince Noctis. Your Highness, you've already met my nieces, Yang and Ruby."_

 _"You're the Prince?!" Both girls exclaimed from this revelation. Ruby had her suspicions from before when Noctis said he lived here, but now any doubts were blown out of the water._

 _"Y-yeah...I am."_

 _The boy rubbed the back of his head. Truth be told, he really hated being called a prince. The only people who could get away with the formalities were Gladio on occasion, and of course Ignis, given his respectful nature. "Just...call me_ Noct _."_

 _Unknown to him, though, Yang was staring at him with an unknown look. A look that Luna noticed, and suddenly, for some unknown reason, grew weary._ Qrow _also noticed the_ look, _and shook his head in amusement._

 _'Puppy dog_ love _already, eh Firecracker?' he thought, laughing. 'Wonder if that'll stay 'till puberty too?'_

XXXXXXXXXX

(Present Day)

As soon as the bulkhead touched down on the ground, everyone began to pour out of the door. Some had been too excited and rushed out immediately, wanting to be the first that got a good look at the new school. Others simply strode out calmly, yet with anticipation clear in their eyes. One of the new arrivals had practically bolted out the door as soon as it opened, dashing towards a trash can and dumping the contents of his stomach into it, wrenching violently.

Meanwhile, the two sisters moved out with the rest of the students. As soon as they found themselves staring at the mouth of the school, they could only marvel at the grand scenery. They had to say, up close, Beacon was far more impressive than what the papers said it was. "Whoooooa..." Yang and Ruby said in awe, looking at the long pathway leading up to the school. The pathway was lined with trees, all with branches colored a light shade of red to represent the current season. "The view from Vale's got nothing on this." Yang commented, taking in the sights as she looked around the school grounds. The school itself was vast in size, especially from the towering structure actually behind it, also likely to be apart of the school. Several lush areas were also surrounding it, providing a sense of serenity and peace and tranquility, likely to provide a sense of peace and quiet to the students.

"Ooh! Ooh! Yang!" Ruby's excited shout caused her to look at her as her form seemingly became smaller, her eyes in the form of sparkles, seemingly floating into the air as a student passed by. "That kid's got a collapsible staff!" she waved her arms around excitedly, hearts pulsing above her head before another student passed by, this time carrying a blade wreathed in flames. Ruby's face grew even more excited as she clung to her arm. "A-and she's got a fire sword!"

She floated off her arm to follow and get a closer look, but Yang grabbed her by the hood and dragged her back, turning her back to normal. "Easy there, Rubes. They're just weapons." The blonde bombshell shrugged.

"Just weapons...? JUST weapons?" Ruby looked at her sister as if she grew a second head...or her hair was cut short. "They are NOT 'just weapons'! They are a part of us, a part of how we live! They are extensions of ourselves! They protect us, fight with us, keep us warm and comfy at night!"

Yang quirked an eyebrow. "If you're that into weapons, why not geek over your own weapon?"

Smiling, Ruby pulled out her weapon and unfolded it into its scythe form. "Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose~" She snuggled against the shaft of her weapon. "I just like meeting new ones. It's like meeting new people...but better."

"Ruby, weapons don't equal friends."

The scythe meister tilted her head. "Why would I need friends when I've got you?"

"Well..." Yang looked to the side. Suddenly a mass of people covered in shadows appeared around her. "Actually my friends are here now we gotta catch up see ya, bye!" She spoke rapidly as she and the mass of people sped away further towards the school.

he sudden commotion sent the poor hooded girl spinning. "W-Wait, where are you going? Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?"

Just as she was about to fall, a pair of rough arms grabbed her from behind. "Whoa, easy there short stuff," a masculine voice said from behind. Ruby looked up to see who caught her...and her jaw fell.

'H-HUGE!'

The guy who stopped her from falling was gigantic! He was easily a complete two heads taller than she was.

He looked to be in his early twenties, wearing a leather short-sleeved jacket and a black v-neck underneath. A scar ran down his left eye, which was colored amber like the right. His hair was brown, the front slicked back while the rest fell past his shoulders. He also had an impressive tattoo on his arms. He looked oddly familiar, but the girl couldn't place it.

"What's up, Gladio?" a boy's voice called out from behind. "You catch something?" As Ruby gently pushed herself out the man's grasp, she saw someone come up from the side, bearing messy blonde hair. The majority of the blonde hair fell around the right side, barely obscuring his right eye, colored blue. He wore a black vest over a simple white shirt, along with denim jeans and brown boots. As soon as her saw her, recognition crossed his face, followed by excitement. "Oh, no way! Ruby!"

The girl blinked. Wait, he knew her? Maybe someone from Signal? He didn't look familiar, though... "S-sorry, but who are you?"

"Oh, right, forgot," the boy chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Last time you saw me, I was chubby as heck." He gave her a wide grin. "I'm Prompto, remember? We met around, oh what was it, six years ago? You were chasing after your Chocobo! Eins, right?"

The girl's eyes widened in realization. She DID remember. That was the time when she, her sister, and uncle visited Lucis and lost Eins. Eventually, they found him and met with the Prince and his friends. "No way...is that you Prompto?!" She zipped over to the blonde and grabbed him by the shoulders. "You really slimmed down!"

"I know, right?" He chuckled. "Figured I needed to get into shape when I was chasing after Eins back then...so I became a runner, and here I am now."

"Oh, so this is the squirt that came with Branwen that one time," the large man said, seemingly recognizing her as well. "Never introduced myself. Name's Gladio. Ruby, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Y-yeah," she said, stuttering somewhat. Could you blame her? The man looked intimidating! He must be some kind of super spy, or a bodyguard! "S-something like that."

"Hey, Gladio. Prompto," another male voice called. "What's the hold up?"

Prompto turned to the new arrival, grinning like an idiot. "He~y Noct! Check out who I found!"

"Huh? Who'd you find?" The Prince asked as he stepped into the grl's line of sight. His dark hair fell down to his chin and was spiky. He wore a leather coat with short sleeves and a high collar, two pouchs hanging around his waist and to the left. His hands were garbed in black gloves with silver bracelets wrapped tightly around each. Below, he wore baggy black jeans and thick black boots that crawled up the heels, tightly bounded in lace.

"Ruby."

The boy's eyes widened. He then looked at the girl, and promptly said, "...well, I'll be damned."

"A friend of yours?" another male voice asked, stepping into view. Unlike the other three, he was dressed more professionally and was a few years older than Prompto and the black-haired bo. His light brown hair was swept up, but obviously well groomed. Square-framed glasses sat atop his nose and over his green eyes. He wore a simple black jacket over a white dress shirt, coupled with dark jeans and black leather shoes.

'They're dressed like a boy band,' Ruby thought with a sweat drop. Seriously, what was with all of the black colors? Sure, she wore black, but it went well with her hood!

"You could say that," the boy answered before turning back to Ruby. "Long time no see."

It didn't take Ruby long to figure out who was in front of her. First of all, he was with Prompto. Secondly, the former called him 'Noct,' a nickname only a handful were allowed to call him by. When it registered, her eyes widened. "N-Noctis?!" she gawked. "Wow...I almost didn't recognize you...I can't believe you're here! Yang's gonna be stoked! Wait, why are you all here? I thought you were in Lucis...Are you visiting, or is it Royal business..." The red hooded girl started to speak even more rapidly with questions and possible answers without pausing to take a breath.

"Ruby!" The Prince grabbed her by the shoulder. "Breathe."

Being reminded of this, Ruby ceased her jabber and took a deep breath, trying to ease her light-headedness. "Haaaa...sorry."

The professional chuckled. "What a curious friend you have, Noct," he said before bowing. "Allow me to introduce myself. Ignis Scientia, at your service, Ms. Rose."

"Oh. It's nice to meet you too." Ruby bowed politely in turn.

After exchanging more pleasantries, the prince and his entourage were moving away towards the auditorium, where the entrance ceremony would be held. Ruby followed them in tow, trailing behind them. "So," Ignis started a conversation. "How did you get accepted into Beacon if I may ask? From what I understand, you are fifteen, correct?"

"O-oh, right," Ruby chuckled. "Well, would you believe me if I told you I stopped a bunch of thugs and a Roman Torchwick?"

"I do!" Prompto said with a grin. "Heck, I got to see it on TV! You were TOTALLY awesome, Rubes!"

The silver-eyed girl gave a small giggle, only to pause. Wait...TV? "W-wait, what do you mean by TV?"

"You didn't know?" he asked. "Some dude got you taking down a bunch of thugs in front of a store with a cool scythe on his phone! It was crazy!"

"WHAT?"! Ruby squeaked, her face red as her hood. People actually saw her in action?! While the thought may have sound quite flattering, it was quite embarrassing to hear that several people saw you on the news. Out of habit, she pulled her hood over her head, preventing anyone from seeing her flushed face. "Aauuu~!"

Noctis chuckled. "Oh come on, what's the problem?" he said. "So what if people saw you on the news? Just means you're gonna be the hot topic for a while."

"That, and imagine how humiliating its gotta be for that Roman guy to lose to a kid!" Prompto added.

Sadly, Ruby's face was still flushed and embarrassed. "Maaaan~! And I told Yang I didn't want to be the bee's knees!"

"The 'Bee's Knees'?" Ignis questioned with a raised brow.

"I-it's a long story!"

"Speaking of you on TV," Prompto continued. "What was that thing you were using? It looked totally freaking cool!"

At this, Ruby managed to somewhat pull out of her embarrassment and let out a small grin. Rather than speak, she let her action do the talking. She removed her weapon from her makeshift holster that was her belt, and unfurled it into scythe form, stabbing it into the ground.

Her action caused the four to jump back in surprise. "Whoa!" Prompto was the one to voice their shock. "Is...is that seriously a scythe?"

"Yep!" The silver eyed girl grinned happily. "It's also a compact, high-velocity sniper rifle." She lifted Crescent Rose and pulled the hammer back.

"That...is one sweet-ass weapon..." The sharpshooter of the crew was impressed.

Noctis gave Prompto a look. "Down, boy," he said teasingly. "You've already got a gun."

"Impressive nonetheless," Ignis remarked, examining it. "This looks custom-made as well. Per chance, did you design this yourself?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep! I made Crescent Rose myself," she said as she folded it back into its gun form, slipping it back into her belt. "She's my sweetheart. So, what do you guys have?"

The four males looked at one another, eventually sporting grins on each of their faces. They all backed up to gain some space. Once they stopped, they held their arms out. Shards of light materialized as a blue glow emitted from their palms. The glow subsided as the shards conjoined and manifested into their individual weapons that they held in hand.

In Noctis' hand was a single-edged broadsword with the blade gleaming a sterling silver and black bar running along the flat of it. Its handle was black and was a hand and a half long with a golden pommel. The guard was the most eye-catching feature, as it seemed to be a combination of parts resembling an engine.

Gladio's weapon was a gigantic claymore, easily larger than himself, bearing a wide flat surface with a sharpened edge. It was as long as his own body, which was saying something. Ruby could only gawk at the way he carried it with some effort with just a single hand, resting it against his shoulder. Ignis, meanwhile, sported a pair of twin silver daggers with a slight curve around the hilt, vaguely resembling a circle. Prompto, on the other hand, carried a silver handgun with a red marking resembling a stylized insignia engraved in the chamber.

Ruby, true to her nature was a weapon's nut, squealed.

She jumped up and down in excitement before zipping over to examine each of their weapons.

"Ohmygoshthatissocoolhowdidyoumakeyourweaponscomeoutofthinairwaitwasitasemblanceohthatgunlookssoawesomethat'salionhearttype-15modelisn'titohthatswordlookssocoolbutwhytheenginemotifandholycowthatswordishumongoushowdoyou-!"

"Ruby," Noctis called again. "Breathe. You're going red in the face."

Ruby realized that she had been talking so fast that she was left slightly winded. Panting, she shook off the momentary dizziness and giggled. "S-sorry," she apologized. "I, uh, kind of have this thing about weapons...still, h-how'd you make them show up like that?! Was that a Semblance?!"

"Nope. It's the power of the Lucis Royal line." Noctis answered. "My family can call on a variety of weapons, and we can give 'em an enchantment of sorts. Thanks to that, the guys can call on 'em anytime, just like I can with my Engine Blade. And before you ask, no I didn't name it. Cid gave it to me a few years back, said it used to be the best weapon back in its day."

"So it's a classic..." Ruby hummed in understanding.

"Pretty much." Noctis stared at the flat of the blade. "It may not be a transformable weapon like your scythe...but it gets the job done."

"So, what have you been up to, Ruby?" Prompto asked as the menfolk dismissed their weapons. "More importantly," he leaned forward a bit, lowering his voice into a whisper. "Does Yang still got a crush on Noct?"

"Not really." She whispered back. "It kinda faded away after learning that he was in love with Luna. By the way, how is she doing?"

"She's doing great," Noctis answered instead, causing the two to jump. They shivered when they saw the annoyed glare he sent them. "And seriously, do you people really need to discuss my love life?"

"Someone has to, Noct," Gladio quipped, earning an elbow to the rib, which he laughed at. "Anyway, let's get going. Speech should be starting soon, and we've got to meet with the headmaster anyway. After all, the crown prince of Lucis attending Vale's combat school is a big deal no matter how you look at it."

XXXXXXXXXX

"You dunce! What do you think you're doing?!"

Jaune Arc was having a really bad day today.

First, he woke up late and nearly missed the airship that was to take him to Beacon Academy. Second, he forgot to take his motion sickness pills in his rush to be on time, leaving him to suffer from a churning stomach and accidentally puking on the airship floor. Third, he accidentally bumped into a girl's luggage, causing its contents of Dust to spill, and now she practically was biting his head off.

If his sisters ever caught wind of this...they'd be laughing at his misfortune.

"L-look, I said I was sorry!"

The blonde knight tried to apologize, but the girl in front of him was having none of it. At first, she looked like a snow angel, but the way she was talking to him had more or less shattered that image fairly quickly. To be perfectly frank, she was scaring him right now. with an alabaster complexion, she was an absolute beauty if not for the horrifying scowl marring that wonderful face. She had long, snow-white hair that fell to her knees tied up into a side ponytail. She was garbed in a white dress cut off mid thigh with a black lace on her chest. She wore a white long-sleeved top with a red interior and white boots that went up halfway up her shins. She wore a pair of line earrings and a silver pendant. Her icy blue eyes were also, currently, glaring at him like she found a bug.

All in all, in crude terms, she was being a "bitch." Now he hoped none of his sisters ever heard him thought that! They'd kill him for sure! Living in a female-dominated household happened to make you more respectful towards women generally.

"Sorry?!" she growled. "Do you realize what you could have done?!"

"Uh...I accidentally knocked over your luggage? Again, I am REALLY sorry!"

"Not just ANY luggage!" She snapped, pulling out a vial that was in one of the bags. "This is Dust. mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry!"

"O-okay, and?"

The girl looked scandalized, eyes widening before her face turned livid. "A-are you dense?! Do you know what Dust is?!"

"Uh-"

"Fire, lighting, wind! Energy!" she started to shake the vial in hand. Unfortunately, a substance began to spill out, some of it caught in the boy's nose. It suddenly began to twitch, causing him to start hiccuping while his nostrils flared in irritation. "Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"Aah, a-aah...ACHOO!"

In the next second, a mixture of flames, ice and electricity exploded straight in the teens' faces.

The vial that caused the explosion flew out of the girl's grasp and clinked on the stone walkway. It rolled before coming to a stop at another figure's foot.

A cloud of smoke covered the two before it dissipated, revealing the white-clothed girl in soot. She shook it off easily before resuming to glare at the poor boy on the receiving end. "You," she growled. "UNBELIEVABLE! This is exactly what I was talking about!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Jaune cried, bowing his head apologetically. "R-really, really sorry!"

"You complete dolt! What are you even doing here?! This is a combat school, we're training to be warriors! Not to be clowns!"

The remark ended up stinging, far more than Jaune showed. It also sparked a bit of anger as he found the strength to muster up a glare back at the girl. "Okay," he said as calmly as possible as he stood up from his position, having fallen to the ground as a result of the sneeze. "Look, I'll admit, me knocking into the cases was my fault, and the Dust falling out, but for Oum's sake, princess, quit yelling at me like some deranged banshee!"

"It's heiress, actually."

The two paused in their argument and turned to one side, seeing a girl approach them. She had long, wavy black hair that end at her mid back with a pair of black cat-like ears sitting on top of her head, marking her as a Faunus. Her eyes were golden amber, almost like a cat's. She was dressed in a sleeveless white blouse that exposed her midriff with a black vest over it. She also wore white shorts with leggings that transitioned from black to purple on the way down and black combat boots with metal studs around the top. Around her neck was a black scarf. She had a single black, sleeve on her left arm that extended to her upper bicep while both of her wrists had black bandages wrapped around them like bands. Sheathed at her back seemed to be a sword of some kind. In her hands were a brown covered book and the missing vial of dust.

"Weiss Schnee," the girl continued. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation, one of the largest energy producers in the world, next to Lucis.

"Finally. Some recognition." Weiss gloated in tirumph, only to falter from the girl's following words.

"The same company infamous for controversial labor forces, questional business partners, and unsavory rumors of conspiracies."

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle, covering his mouth while Weiss growled. "How dare you- The nerve of-!" She stomped up to the girl, snatching the vial out of her hand. She gave a lasting glare, given that the girl was a Faunus, before she whirled around on her heel and left, strutting her stuff while her apparent butlers cleaning up the damage done to the cases before following their mistress.

Jaune watched her leave before he sighed, shaking his head. "Talk about a first impression," he muttered before he looked at the black-haired girl who saved his bacon. "Hey, thanks for..." he trailed off, noticing that she was already gone, walking far into the horizon and apparently heading towards the school. Once more he sighed, drooping his head. "Well, Jaune...welcome to Beacon."

"Are you alright?" he heard someone ask him. "That looked quite...interesting."

He turned, and felt his face flush. It was a girl with vibrant red hair, tied back into a ponytail, and illustrious green eyes. She wore light-green eyeshadow around the far upper corners of her eyes. Compared to most girls, she was quite tall, and somewhat muscular going by her physique.

Her top consisted of two layers. The top layer was a light-brown, strapless top split divided vertically with some bronze patterns. It seemed be leather or stiff metal, having some kind of riveting or small, round embroidery on the sides, which might have also been heavy stitching. The bottom layer was a low bronze V-neck.

The girl wore an elastic, black, A-line miniskirt and brown opera-length gloves on both arms, in addition to a red ankle-length drapery that appeared to be wrapped around her skirt. There was a small circular bronze plate by her right hip opposite two pouches with both connected to a belt. The plate bore a "shield and spear" emblem. She wore a bronze circlet headpiece that could be seen above her ear and under her bangs.

A pair of small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds hanged from her circlet on thin chains. She also sported a large bronze gorget around her neck, and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm. She also had elaborate bronze greaves that started below her mid-thigh, continuing downwards into her boots and a pair of cuisses that began mid-thigh and ending slightly above her knees. She also donned a bronze bracer on top of the sleeve on her left arm. She wore high-heeled boots with a brown color and bronze trim, matching her skirt and sleeves, and reached up to mid-calf.

It took a few seconds for what she said to register in his mind before he opened his mouth. "Er, y-yeah!" he nodded, trying to play it off. "I-I'm fine! Really!"

"Are you sure?" She asked in concern. "That was a pretty loud explosion earlier."

"Yeah, I'm sure. My aura shielded me from the blast. Aside from wounded pride, I'm good." Jaune shrugged.

And thank god for Aura. He made a mental note to thank his teacher and his wife again if he ever saw them. It had been so long since they last met. A year or so now, now that he thought about it. He really owed the couple for how much they helped him get to where he was now. "I'm Jaune, by the way," he introduced himself to the girl, offering a hand before giving a grin. "Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, and the ladies love it."

The red-haired girl smiled coyly. "...do they really?"

"W-well, my mother always said it, so..." he faltered, realizing just how cheesy and corny it sounded. It sounded so much better in his head than out loud. "...on second thought, nevermind."

The girl couldn't help but giggle. They boy before her may have seemed awkward...but she could tell he was honest. It was...refreshing to say the least. Given how most of the conversations people had with her went. It was like a breath of fresh air from the stuffiness of her reputation.

"...re?"

The male's voice snapped her out of her reverie. "I'm sorry?"

"Uh, your name. I was asking what your name was." The blonde responded with a clueless expression.

The girl's eyes widened for a fraction of the second. She searched his face for something, but she found nothing. Instead, a wide smile greeted him and only made his heart flutter. "...Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Ruby! I saved you a spot!"

Yang waved to her sister from where she stood amidst the crowd. Ruby saw her hand and waved back before heading over, the Lucians tailing her.

The girl noticed the four boys and began to raise an eyebrow, though she was looking at Gladio's rather impressive body, giving a slight purr. 'Mama likes~' she thought flirtatiously. Those muscles looked like she could sizzle a stake on them! "So, I see your day went well~" she said with a slight tease.

"Oh yeah, sure," Ruby gave her the stink eye. "Right after you ditched me!"

"Hey, you got to meet four boys!" she argued before turning to them. "Speaking of which, who are you guys?"

Prompto took on a face of fake hurt, holding his heart with one hand and another on his forehead. "Oh, it hurts," he said in an obviously exaggerated tone that made Noctis and Gladio roll their eyes. "It truly does! To not be recognized by Ruby's own flesh and blood! Oh, the horror!"

"Uh...you doing okay?" The bombshell quirked a brow at her fellow blonde's behavior. Recognize? Was she supposed to know them?

"Ignore the drama queen." Gladio smacked Prompto in the head. "He's just hurt from the thought of you forgetting him."

Noctis shook his head. "Well, you can't blame her," he quipped. "Last time she saw Prompto, he wasn't exactly thin."

"Huh? Prompto?" She furrowed her brow. The name sounded familiar...

"Seriously...?" The boy in question drawled as he bounced back from his faux sorrow. "I'll admit I went through a drastic change growing up...but to really forget us? Especially when it was love at first sight for you with Noct here?"

Instantly, the blonde's cheeks flared up, remembering the boy she fell for at first sight while Noctis glared. "Prompto, one more word, or so help me, I'll toss you to a Behemoth."

"...wait, Noct?!" The lilac-eyed brawler's eyes went straight to Noctis, then back at Prompto. "Prompto?! Hoooooly crap you lost a lot of weight!"

"That's kind of rude when you say it like that, Yang," Ruby sweatdropped. "A-anyway, these guys are Ignis and Gladio. They're His Highness' friends!"

"Ruby, we talked about this..."

The silver-eyed girl gave a cute look as she stuck out her tongue, rapping her knuckles against her head. "Sorry, force of habit~"

The Prince sighed as he shook his head. Even after reuniting all these years, she still calls him that...

"Well, now that we're all back together and remember each other again...what's new?" Prompto asked the two.

Yang snapped out of her stupor, laughing rather nervously while trying to avoid eye contact with Noctis. "W-well, you know!" she said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. "J-just the usual stuff!"

"If by that, you mean busting up a club," Ruby deadpanned. "And you still haven't told me why you were there! Also, why did you ditch me?! I-I mean, sure, I got to meet with Noct and the others again, but that was not cool! I could have exploded!"

"Wai-wai-wait...You busted a Club? As in...completely wrecked it?" The male blonde gaped in shock. "How did you do that?!"

"Not my fault!" Yang defended herself. "I was just looking for answers, guy wouldn't give it to me, and the bouncers got too close for comfort!"

"...what happened to that really cute, really sweet blonde girl that we met back when we were kids?" Prompto asked rather fearfully. "How did she turn into a literal party crasher?"

"Bet you its Qrow," Gladio remarked. Noctis tilted his head, thinking a bit on it before he realized it would have made sense, if the stories Nyx told him were anything. The man was a drunk who claims to be a reckless rogue. Due to his semblance, things tend to happen at the worst opportunity. That, or fate decides to intervene. Regardless, he could see how this might have rubbed off on Yang...if the stories of him getting involved in many a bar fight were true. "By the way, looks like the headmaster is about to talk."

The group then ceased their chatter and turned to face the stage up front.

Sure enough, like Gladio said, the gray-haired headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin himself, stood upon the stage, striding forward with a cane in hand. Behind him was an unfamiliar woman with light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she wore thin ovular glasses. She had teal hanging earrings with a small bead identical to her earrings on her collar. She wore white long-sleeved suit that exposed part of her chest, and tight puffy sleeves near the wrist before spreading back out near her hands. Her lower attire was a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it and lighter black-brown stockings. She also had black boots with brown heels, and a tattered purple cape with black on the outside, decorated by a row of diamond-shaped brown beads going horizontally across it. Above this was a line of beads appears an emblem of a tiara.

"You know," Prompto whispered to Noctis. "I was kind of expecting someone like your dad. He kinda reminds me more like Iggy when he wakes up in the morning."

Noctis nodded in agreement. The man certainly had the look, and the way he walked was definitely the way Ignis walked when he was dead tired after having just woken up before his morning cup of coffee to get him started for the otherwise long and boring days they led. Regardless, they all kept careful attention, considering that this was the man allowing them to attend the halls, and more importantly, keep Noctis away for two years from his status as a Prince...not that it would matter much. He was pretty sure the school would find out one way or another.

The man stopped at the speaker, giving it a slight tap to see if it was working before he cleared his throat, opening his mouth to speak, "I'll... keep this brief," he started. His voice was collected, yet Noctis easily recognized a tired tone when he heard one. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

There was a slight pause, as if he wanted to let his words sink in. Many students looked at one another excitedly, but were soon ceased when he continued.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

That lone sentence caught everyone's attention. Some grew expressions of confusion, others indignation. But the meaning was not lost on the more experienced members of the Crownsguard. The headmaster was conveying that they all had potential, but had no set path toward their goals.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With that, his speech came to a short end as he stepped back, making his way to the exit. Meanwhile, the woman took his place at the podium, addressing the students. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"Well..." Yang broke the silence of the group. "That was a thing..."

"It kinda looked like he wasn't there," Ruby said.

Prompto shrugged. "Well, he has been dealing with new student transcripts and all that," he said. "Anyway, we gotta take off. We have to meet with the Wizard of Oz~ You know, Lucis and politic stuff."

"Okay," Ruby chirped. "We'll see you guys later then." The Lucis group then gave their farewells and left, making their way towards the inside of the school in hopes of finding Ozpin. Once they were well out of earshot, and as the students poured out into various places inside the school before it was time for curfew, she gave a small look to Yang, who watched the four boys leave. "...so, you haven't gotten over Noctis yet?"

"Ruby..." Her sister groaned. She really didn't want to discuss this.

"I'm just asking...you were pretty heartbroken back then..." She stated.

For a while, the brawler said nothing, but the pink dust on her cheeks said it all. "...okay, so I haven't gotten over him yet," she said sadly. "Even though he's got Lunafreya...does that make me a bad person?"

"No," Ruby shook her head. "I think it just means you're actually trying to find someone you actually like instead of just flirting with random boys...by the way, back at Signal, why did you bust that guy's-"

"W-we'll talk about it when you're older, Rubes."

"Phooey!"

XXXXXXXXXX

'Yep, totally like Ignis.'

That was Noctis' thought when he and the others stood in front of Ozpin, who sat in his desk with the blonde woman from earlier, a teacher named Glynda Goodwitch, while the former drank from a mug of coffee. His dark eyes shined with a bit more life in them, compared to earlier when they looked ragged, though hidden well behind a pair of shades. "I must say, you look quite a bit like your father when we first met," he remarked as he set the mug down with a small smile. "Albeit without the beard and all. First off, let me thank you for agreeing to partake in the exchange program, Prince Noctis."

"Noctis is fine," the prince told him. "I'm not one for formalities."

"Very well then..." The headmaster folded his hands on the desk. "I imagine your father has already informed you of the details of the exchange program?"

"Yes sir." The Prince nodded. "The exchange program was an agreement between the Four Kingdoms of Remnant and Lucis as a chance for youths to become exposed to each other's culture to obtain a better understanding of one another. We were selected as the Lucian representatives for Vale and to attend it's Huntsman Academy, Beacon, in order to interact with its citizens and forge stronger ties between the Kingdoms."

Ozpin smiled. "Correct," he nodded his head. "Out of curiosity...what are your thoughts on this agreement?"

Noctis shrugged. "Well, for one, I can get away from being a prince for two years," he said. "So that's a plus."

The man chuckled. "I see. Now, as you and Mr. Argentum will be enrolling in the second-year course, and given the unique nature of the exchange program, the two of you will automatically be placed on a team together. As Mr. Amicitia and Scientia are also members of the Crownsguard, we are offering a place on that team as well, though they will be more appropriately acting as your bodyguards." There was a pause and an amused smile. "Unless, of course, they wish to enroll."

"No thanks," Gladio chuckled. "I've already had enough of high school for one day, Mr. Ozpin."

Ignis adjusted his glasses in agreement. "I would rather prefer being at His Highness' side rather than undergo another year of education. Not to sound rude, but being in a room with twenty to thirty horomonial teenagers isn't quite ideal."

"Prude," Prompto muttered, but received a mild glare from the man. Then the blonde male realized something. "Wait...i-isn't this kind of cheating? I mean, Initiation doesn't start until tomorrow, and we're already becoming a team?"

"While it is an unusual case...as I said before, the exchange program is unique. Due to the fact Noctis is the Prince of Lucis, it would be wise to place him on a team with people he can trust and protect him. King Regis suggested as such."

Noctis' eyes widened for a moment, but then smiled somewhat. 'Leave it to the old man to keep my friends watching my back,' he thought warmly. "Anything else we should know, Headmaster?"

"Actually, yes." Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "Due to your unique formation as a team, we decided it'd be best for you to be chaperoned by one of our more experienced teams during the first few months of your stay. In order for you to be better accustomed to the culture of Vale."

"Really?" Prompto asked, excited. "Awesome! Who are they?!"

"Patience, Mr. Argentum," Ozpin chuckled. "That can wait for Initiation. For the time being, why don't you all rest? I imagine the drive here was quite long?"

"Yeah...I could really use a nap." Noctis said.

"Even when you slept on the ride here?" Gladio asked him with an amused grin.

"If you ask me, Noct is the only one who doesn't need rest." Prompto smirked.

Ignis smiled. "Agreed."

Noctis gave a small sigh. "Yep, so pick on the prince day..."

XXXXXXXXXX

When night had arrived, many students had gathered their things and were either in the process of changing into their nightly attire or already in their pajamas, proceeding to head to bed. The ballroom was quite packed, yet there was more than enough space for the new students. Ruby for her part was near the lower middle of the ballroom, lying flat on her stomach while writing on a small piece of paper. It was a letter to her friends back at Signal, as well as her family. She mostly talked about her first day, which was on the airship trying to get Yang to calm down about getting her boots stained in puke, and then her meeting with Noctis' friends...and of course her reuinion with Noctis in general.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang announced as she divebombed next to her. Ruby squeaked a bit, surprised but gave a small glare. Regardless, she agreed.

Although, that said... "I don't think dad would like the boys much."

"I know I do~" the buxom brawler purred, looking at the males that were currently topless, exposing the rippling muscles, their meaty biceps, and of course the chiseled abs. The moment was dulled somewhat when she caught sight of a familiar face - the boy who vomited on her boots, walking around in an honest to god blue onesie. Noticing her stare, he gave an awkward wave, which she reciprocated just as badly. Just as she was about to go back to ogling, she caught sight of something quite wonderful.

Gladiolus Amicitia. TOPLESS.

Compared to the other topless guys, Gladio looked like he was chiseled from marble. She also noticed that the tattoos on his arms ran al the way to his back.

Unable to help herself, she gave a low whistle. "Yaaaaang!" Ruby groaned. "Do you have to ogle every guy without a shirt on?! It's really embarrassing!"

"Oh, you'll understand the feeling one day, Rubes," Yang said with a grin. "Anyway, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Just writing a letter back to the gang at Signal. I promised I'd tell them what Beacon was like." She let out a small giggle. "I wonder how they'll react when I tell them I got to meet His Highness?"

"They'll probably be busy picking their jaws up off the floor." Yang giggled at the comical visualization.

As they conversed, Ruby noticed the Lucians approaching, all within their respective sleepwear. For Prompto, he had discarded his vest and pants for a pair of shorts, Gladio had forgone his shirt and pants for baggy sweats, and Ignis wore a plain white shirt with black pants. Noctis, meanwhile, wore a black t-shirt with black shorts. "Seriously, what is it with you guys and the color black?" she asked, curious. "Is it, like, a trend in Insomnia?"

"Don't know," Prompto shrugged before grinning, taking a seat next to the girl. "So, what do you girls think Initiation is gonna be like?"

"I don't know, I tried asking one of the teachers, but I guess Ozpin told them to keep quiet," the smaller girl sighed. "Man, I'm so nervous. W-what if Initiation is gonna be like a written test?! Oooh, I hate those!"

"Calm down, Ruby," Yang told her, ruffling her hair. "If we're lucky, it probably won't even be that. Its like Signal, so maybe it'll be like a tournament or something."

"I can see the possibility." Ignis nodded. "Due to Beacon being a Huntsman Academy, there is no doubt that this Initiation will be a physical test of sorts to test your ability in combat, or even survival."

Ruby still looked worried, though the idea of being able to use Crescent Rose made her a bit more happy. "By the way," Ignis continued. "I overheard from some of the other new students that apparently the heiress from the Schnee Dust company is attending as well."

"Schnee?" Prompto frowned. "Wait, you mean that humongo big company that's got most Faunus folks angry, right? Something about unfair labor laws or something?"

"It's more than that. If the rumors are any indication, they subject the Faunus working there into slave labor in the mines. Overworked and underpaid compared to their human employees." Gladio replied with a stern frown.

Yang and Prompto's eyes widened, faces set into mortifying disgust while Ruby frowned. "B-but that's unfair," she argued. "Can they really do that!"

"All of that is in the grey legal area, I'm afraid," Ignis sighed. "Just short of the black parts. In the meantime...Noct," he turned to the prince. "According to the Headmaster, we are allowed to participate in Initiation if we want, but we also have the option to not take it. Which would you prefer?"

"Wait, what?" Yang asked, surprised. "You guys don't have to take it?"

"Apart of the exchange program's rather unique nature."

Noctis folded his arms, dipping his head in thought. On one hand, the idea of fighting sounded really tedious, as was having to be around others. He was used to fighting with people he knew, but even still, he needed to keep up his strength. Cor made it quite clear that there was a lot of expectation riding on him, so he needed to be on his game. If he were to skip out on Initiation, the man was likely to chew him out...meaning there was only one real choice.

"Well, we might as well," Noctis said, making his decision. "After all, kind of unfair that we don't have to while everyone else does. Besides, if I don't, the Marshal's gonna chew me out for skipping out on live battle training."

Gladio laughed. "Good point!"

"Yeah, I'd rather we skip Cor's long winded lectures and punishments. I'm still sore from this drills he ran us through before we left..." Prompto voiced his agreement.

"Now that I think about it...didn't he say something about an apprentice?"

Gladio nodded. "Yeah, saw him in action myself. Damn good with a sword. Might be a good Crownsguard."

XXXXXXXXXXX

[And you're sure? Everything's fine over there?]

"For goodness' sakes, Adam, yes," the black haired Faunus girl from when Jaune met Weiss Schnee for the first time said, giggling. "Everything is fine. You worry too much. I think you should be more worried about your Kingsglaive duties."

[Is it wrong for me to be worried about my little sister?] the man on the other end of the call questioned. [While you may have been recommended into Beacon at Ghira's and Commander Drautos' recommendation, Vale is still a pretty far way from home.]

"Again, you worry too much," the girl told him, smiling. "By the way, how are things over there at Insomnia? You are getting people from the other kingdoms because of the exchange program, right?"

The man on the other end of the call sighed. [Yeah... Crowe and Pelna are in charge of the kids from Beacon. Remind me again, why did I take this job?]

"Comes with the job, Adam," the girl told him. "Anyway, I gotta go. Oh, and tell Ms. Crowe I said hello."

[Sure thing...and Blake?]

"Yeah?"

[Be careful out there. I know that his highness and the Crownsguard are there also because of the exchange program, but please be careful. And please make sure that they don't get into trouble, alright?]

Blake Belladonna rolled her eyes. "Alright," she said. "See you later, Adam."

[Yeah...later.]

With that, the call came to an end. Blake sighed as she set her scroll down to her bag, and picked up her book. "Honestly," she muttered with a hint of a smile on her face. "What a worrywart...then again, better than him being an angry bullhead."

.

.

.

.

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 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: The RWBY, The JNPR, and the LAPI**


	8. Chapter 8

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, Fate: Horizons, and Hellbent Ghost of the Rebellion.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust:**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter III: The RWBY, The JNPR, and The LAPI**

The following morning stirred with the excited comments and actions of the prospective students. Today was finally the day. Their first step towards becoming full-fledged Huntsmen. Many were excited for what it entailed, for their dreams and ambitions will become initialized today.

However, for a certain raven haired Prince...it was a rather rude awakening.

Namely, because it involved a certain shirtless Crownsguard, and cold water. "Sweet mother of Shiva!" he cried as he shot up, completely wide awake and shivering. Looking up, he found Gladio standing above him, holding an empty bucket with water dripping out of it, complete with a shit-eating grin. "Did you HAVE to do that?!"

"Not really. But it's more fun this way." Gladio shrugged. He then set the bucket aside and pulled the Crown Prince up. "C'mon, Noct, we gotta get ready."

Noctis groaned as he pushed himself up, rubbing the night sand from his eyes. "I've said it for years, and it still sticks." he muttered. "You're a demon, Gladio."

"Yo, Noct!" Prompto greeted as he walked up to the now awakened prince. Like Gladio, he was dressed in his casual attire. "Ready for Initiation? We've got a bit of time to ourselves before we meet at the cliff near Emerald Forest." He took a quick look around the ballroom, noticing the large number of people still sleeping. "Guess we're up earlier than the rest."

"Seriously?" Noct groaned as he facepalmed. "You woke me up while everyone else was STILL sleeping? Like I said: you really are a demon..."

"Hey. Better me than Cor. Knowing him, he'd kick your ass to get you out of bed." Gladio shrugged.

And he didn't doubt it. Old bastard was like a drill sergeant. Noctis frowned when he noticed a certain someone missing from their group. "Wait, where's Ignis?"

"He was the first to wake up. Said something about checking out what the other guys who got up were like." Gladio chuckled. "Guess he wanted to check out the competition. Then again, can't blame him. I'm kind of curious to see what the other students are like, too."

XXXXXXXXXX

True to Gladio's words, Ignis had been observing a few students that had woken up prior to his own roused slumber. A minute number had chosen to train, which he applauded, given that Initiation would be no easy task.

The rest had decided to spend the rest of their time relaxing and speaking with others. To his mild disappoint, the rare few who trained did not show off their Semblances. The power that stemmed from one's soul had always sparked curiosity in the man, even when he was young, as it was a foreign phenomenon to the Lucians after arriving in Remnant. Before leaving Eos, none of them had heard of Aura or Semblances, as they assumed to have lacked those traits unique to Remnant's inhabitants.

However, when he was young, an accident led to the discovered that Lucians had the capability of using Aura. It happened to one of the Kingsglaive during a mission on the outskirts of Lucis. He was sent to exterminate the Grimm infesting the area, but was ambushed by a pack of Beowolves in the middle of the first wave.

It all seemed lost at first, but under the strain of being locked in combat with his life on the line, the Glaive's Aura manifested itself, healing his wounds and giving him to edge to turn the tide of battle. After the completion of the mission, he rushed back to Lucis to inform the King of his discovery. That he was capable of using Aura.

Many tests were run following that incident, which eventually led to the discovery that the Lucians were able to unlock the manifestation of their souls.

He had studied it immensely with the vast library the Palace had offered, which had a number of tomes related to the Remnant Kingdoms' histories and culture. Among those subjects was Semblance.

Ignis had yet to forge his own, which disappointed him. The same could possibly be said for Gladio and Prompto. Noctis was...debatable. It was hard to tell whether or not his ability to conjure the weapons in his arsenal were his Semblance or the powers that ran in his blood because of his royal lineage. That didn't mean he was frustrated by this lack of information.

Rather, it excited him. Undiscovered, or hidden knowledge, had always been a passion of his to seek out. To learn more there was about them. That, and seeing the Semblances of others had always intrigued him, wondering how they could have worked.

Sadly, in his musings, he bumped into someone and nearly tripped. "Oh dear," he said, bowing his head. "My sincerest apologies. I wasn't looking where I was going."

He looked up, and to his mild surprise, he was staring at none other than Weiss Schnee. He was able to identify her with ease by her white hair and blue eyes: traits that, as far as he knew, were quite common in the Schnee Family if the pictures he had seen of Jacques Schnee and Winter Schnee were of any indication. The latter was a more obscure case, as the photos simply related to her career in the military, and he knew little of her other than that she chose to become a Huntress and later became part of the Altesian Military.

Weiss looked ready to deliver an angry retort, but paused when she took in his appearance and his apology. "N-no, it was my fault," she said in sincerity. "I was in a hurry to wash up is all."

She didn't know this man quite well, but he seemed older than her by a couple years. Meaning, he was either a senior student, a member of the staff or even an exchange student from Lucis. She was aware that they sent their own inhabitants to the other Kingdoms as a means of strengthening ties between them. But given how his attire seemed professional, she would say it was between the latter two possibilities.

"It is quite alright. It is best to be prepared first before the others wake up. I can't quite imagine how stressful it would be to be rushing amongst a crowd." Ignis waved off her apology.

Weiss smiled thinly. "I agree," she said before bowing into a curtsy. "I am Weiss Schnee."

"Ignis Scientia. A pleasure, Ms. Schnee." Ignis bowed in return.

"If you don't mind me asking...are you one of the participants of the exchange program? You don't seem like the other students here." Weiss politely asked.

"Somewhat," he replied. "I'm a Crownsguard serving Prince Noctis."

The heiress' eyes widened upon hearing such news. The Crownsguard serving the Crown Prince of Lucis was HERE of all places? Does that mean...does that mean the Prince was amongst the others from Lucis?

"I-I wasn't aware the Prince would be among the attendants of the exchange."

"An arrangement made by the Headmaster and His Majesty," Ignis answered as he pushed up his glasses. "A way of strengthening the bonds between Lucis and Vale."

"I see..." Weiss responded, still shell-shocked by the news. To think that the heir of the Lucian throne was attending the same school as her...Then again, it would be a good chance to try her hand at politics, dreadful as they were. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Ignis. I would love to converse more, but I have to get ready." She said.

"Of course, Miss Schnee." The man bowed, bidding her farewell as she left. As she did, Ignis took a quick look at his watch. "About time for the others to have woken up Noct. I suppose I should return." he mused as he took his leave, though he paused when he saw one of the students in the midst of training.

Normally, he wouldn't stop and stare, given how rude it was, but the boy had caught his attention. He looked to be 17 like many of the students here, bearing messy blonde hair and blue eyes. In hand was a sword, an ordinary one due to the lack of any signs of mechanical parts at the hilt, coupled with a shield attached to the bracer on his left arm.

He wore a black jacket that came down to his knees, which split in half around the end and had a hood to go with it. Below, he wore dark pants with heavy black boots that came up to the calves, bearing metal guards at the front and at the heels. Beneath the jacket was a dark shirt with what appeared to be a cartoonish bunny drawn on it.

The jacket primarily had his attention, as the silver decorations, and the mask attached to the hood, were quite familiar to him. "A Glaive jacket?"

Now, this was a surprise to him. He had no recollection of being told a member of the Glaive would be sent along with them. Furthermore, he does not recognize the blonde youth from the current roster of the Kingsglaive in Lucis. Was he perhaps a new recruit or...?

Curious, he watched the young man train by himself, swinging his sword with as much strength as he could muster in short bursts. His fighting style showed signs of training, but still amateurish. Still, Ignis couldn't deny the boy certainly had the form and style down. If memory serves, that fighting style was used by only two individuals.

One was Cor Leonis, though the man had honed such a style into something else, something even more fierce and befitting his station as the Grand Marsal. The other was Commander Drautos. Given the boy's movements...his was much closer to the latter.

Eventually, the blonde youth reached the peek of his performance, as he let out a final battle cry as he spun around on his heel, swinging his sword at the apex of the swing. As it sliced through the air, a gust of wind blew from the force, enough to reach Ignis.

Sweat caked his forehead while he panted in exhaustion, wiping the sweat from his brow and fell out of his form. As he did, he fiddled with his shield and it contracted, forming into a makeshift sheath. He slipped the sword inside of it and placed it at his hip. "Whew..." he said tiredly. "Shouldn't have worked myself so hard." A moment later, he frowned and folded his arms. "I thought for sure I had it that time...what am I doing wrong?"

This piqued Ignis' curiosity. Doing wrong? What was he referring to? Was there supposed to be something more to the combat form he just displayed? While his technique could still use some refinement, he demonstrated that he at least had the basics down. He wondered what was troubling the blonde teen.

He gave a small mental flip of the coin, and reached a decision. "Pardon," he called as he approached, startling the blonde. "But is something the matter?"

"H-huh?" the young man stuttered before calming himself. "Well, nothing really...I'm just frustrated is all."

"Did it have anything to do with what you were practicing earlier?"

"Sort of. I was trying to mimic a technique my teacher did, but no matter what I try or do, I can't do it." he said with disappointment. "I tried asking for pointers, but he just gave me the same response. 'It can't be mimicked, it can only be learned.' Don't ask me how that works."

Ignis hummed. He knew only one person who had such a philosophy when teaching new recruits of the Glaive. "Would your teacher happen to be the same one who gave you that Glaive jacket?"

"Actually, yeah, he is!" the blonde grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "It was a gift when I got accepted into Beacon. To be honest, I was kind of worried. The practical exams were really hard."

Practical...if he remembers right, the practical exams are meant for applicants who have not participated in combat academies such as Patch or Sanctum. The tests were meant to be hard, given that the majority of the applicants were more or less novices. Going by what he saw, though, the boy certainly had skill. If given a few more years to polish, he would be on par with a Huntsman.

"I see," Ignis said, nodding. "Pardon me for not introducing myself. My name is Ignis."

"Jaune." the blonde youth said with a smile. "Jaune Arc."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The two shook hands before the Crownsguard continued. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you come under the tutelage of one of the Kingsglaive?"

"I don't mind. Truth be told though...it's kind of a long story..." Jaune sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

The brains of the Prince's band of misfits smiled. "I believe we have-"

"Yo, Iggy!" The man turned and found Noctis standing nearby, Gladio and Prompto flanking him on either side. "Come on! We're heading to the messhall!"

"Very well." he called back. "I'll be there in a moment." Ignis then turned back to Jaune. "It seems that story will have to wait. It has been a pleasure." With a bow, Ignis took his leave.

Jaune watched as the Crownsguard reunited with his friends and left. As he did, he fuddled his brow in curiosity. "I wonder if he's a teacher here." he muttered. "But the guy who just called out to him didn't look older than me...maybe an aid?"

"Jaune?" The blonde turned and found Pyrrha approaching. She seemed to have noticed his conversation with Ignis, and looked at their retreating forms with interest. "Who were you talking to?"

"Don't know," he answered. "Someone from Lucis. I think he might be here because of the exchange program, but he was older than the students. Maybe an upperclassman, or a teacher or something."

"I see. Well, that sounds interesting. What were you two talking about?" The Redhead inquired.

"We were actually talking about my teacher. He recognized the Glaive jacket my teacher gave me and wanted to know more. I was about to tell him, but he and his friends had to leave for the mess hall." Jaune shrugged.

Pyrrha's eyes widened. "That's a Glaive uniform?" she asked in wonder. "I've heard stories about them. They're the royal guard of the Imperial Family in Lucis, right? Alongside the Crownsguard?"

"Yep, though from what my teacher told me, they're more like Huntsmen these days." Jaune snickered. "Anyway, speaking of food, I'm really hungry. Did you want to grab something to eat, Pyrrha?"

"That would be lovely."

XXXXXXXXXX

"WHAT?!" Prompto gawked, staring at the chef in horror. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE ALL OUT OF PANCAKES?! BARELY ANYONE'S AWAKE!"

Currently, the four Lucians were in line of the mess hall to get some breakfast...only to learn that all the pancakes were gone, much to a certain photographer's chagrin.

"Sorry, kid. But another student came in not too long ago and ordered all the pancakes we had. When she was done, she kept coming back for more and more until we ran out. But we do have waffles left though..." The chef explained.

Gladio stared at the man, dumbfounded. "...you're telling us that one student ate your entire stock of pancakes?" he questioned. "How the hell is that even possible?"

"I wish I knew," the chef groaned. "To be honest, I'm having a hard time believing it myself! Whoever heard of one kid eating so much?!"

Noctis was curious about that himself, especially when said food was pancakes. He patted a depressed Prompto on the back. "There there," he said, trying to soothe his friend before he turned back to the chef. "What else you got other than your missing stock of pancakes?"

"We'll there's the aforementioned waffles, a small batch of cereal stuff, you can choose whatever brand you want, and other stuff. Free drinks, too."

"We'll take those then." The prince accepted before turning to his friend. "Look, I know they're not pancakes, but they're more filling, right? Besides, we're gonna need the energy."

"...alright." Prompto sighed. The chef went to the back, preparing their breakfast. Seconds later, he returned, carrying four trays. The group took them in gratitude, and went to sit at one of the vacant benches. "Still...who would love pancakes enough to bleed the chef dry?"

Ignis gave a shrug. "Who can say?" he said. "At any rate, we'd best eat breakfast quickly. We have about an hour or so before we have to head to the cliff."

Nodding, the four Lucians proceeded to dig into their waffles, noting how good they were. "Wow! These are pretty tasty waffles!" Prompto exclaimed. "Crisp on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside."

"Eh," Gladio chuckled. "Iggy could make 'em better."

"Prompto isn't wrong, however," Ignis said. "I would have to ask for the chef's recipe the next time we come here."

"Whatever you say, Ignis," Noctis said before he took a bite. He savored the taste of his food before turning to his friend. "By the way, who was that guy you were talking to?"

"Ah, that was Jaune Arc. He was accepted into Beacon after he passed the practical exams."

The prince quirked an eyebrow. "That's for the guys who didn't train at the training academies, right?" he asked, receiving a bob of the head for confirmation. "Huh. Can't wait to see what's like if we get the chance. By the way...the jacket he was wearing. Wasn't that...?"

"His teacher was apparently a member of the Kingsglaive," Ignis answered. "Unfortunately, just as I was about to ask you came around. His technique, however, was similar to the style Commander Drautos used. The Marshal had a similar style before he changed it into the one he uses currently. Iado, I believe he called it."

Gladio smirked. "So he was the Commander's prized pupil, huh?" he said, amused. "I guess he felt left out when he heard the Marshal had a student of his own."

"While that is a possibility, I believe it's more along the lines of Commander Drautos seeing potential in Mr. Arc. While his form is still rough, he more or less has the movements well ingrained into his mind. With enough training, I can imagine him to be comparable to a True Huntsman."

"Well, that is if he doesn't join the Kingsglaive first, though."

As they chatted about the possibility of this Jaune kid joining the Glaive and talking about him and whatnot, Noctis showed only a mild curiosity. If Commander Drautos taught him personally, he was interested to see what he was capable of. As he finished up his meal, he decided to wash up before they left. "I'll be back in a bit." he told his friends.

They nodded and continued to chat among themselves, though the conversation steered towards the prospect of Prompto wondering what the Emerald Forest would be like and what kind of photos the others would want. As he left towards the bathroom, he caught sight of two students near the other end of the mess hall. One had ginger red hair and vibrant blue eyes, while the other had magenta-colored eyes with a pink streak of hair in his black mess.

They nodded and continued to chat among themselves, though the conversation steered towards the prospect of Prompto wondering what the Emerald Forest would be like and what kind of photos the others would want. As he left towards the bathroom, he caught sight of two students near the other end of the mess hall. One had ginger red hair and vibrant blue eyes, while the other had magenta-colored eyes with a pink streak of hair in his black mess of a mane.

'I guess I found the pancake hog,' he thought, amused as he noticed a lot off plates stacked up nearby with the plate in front of them harboring what he assumed was the last vestiges of the pancakes.

The girl continued to chat chewing on a pancake in her mouth while the boy sat and quietly ate his own stack of pancakes in a slower manner. Noctis couldn't quite discern what their conversation was about, but he did hear the word, team, pop up a couple times. They must've been discussing the Initiation. Shrugging, Noctis turned and left the mess hall and went to the nearest bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXX

Near the end of their free time before Initiation began, the Lucians entered the locker rooms, gathering their equipment. As they did, they ran into the pleasant surprise of Ruby and Yang. "Hey boys," the blonde brawler greeted with a smirk. "Ready to kick butt out there?"

"Correction!" Prompto grinned. "Kick butt and get photogenic proof!"

The blonde Lucian held up his trusty camera for emphasis. There was no way he was going to miss taking photos of the Emerald Forest.

"Nice! Guess you're still aspiring Photographer, eh Prompto? Some things never change." Yang shook her head while smiling.

"Hey. If it isn't broken, don't fix it."

Gladio chuckled. "Well, photography aside, you girls ready?"

"Of course!" Ruby said with excitement as she unfurled Crescent Rose, nuzzling her cheek against it. "Because now, I can let my sweet-heart do the talking~"

"Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation." Yang reminded hands on her hips. "If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

"Ugh...you sound like dad!" Ruby groaned as she stored her weapon back in her locker. "Okay, first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I. Drink. Milk."

Noctis quirked an eyebrow, folding his arms. "Oh yeah?" he asked in amusement. "And what about teams?"

"Uhm, I don't know, I-I'll just be on your team, or something..."

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang offered.

Suddenly, Ruby narrowed her eyes and slowly approached the blonde brawler. "My dear sister Yang," she said in a rather cute, fearsome voice. "Are you implying you don't want to be on the same team as me?"

"She just wants you to start opening up to others, Ruby." Prompto said as he inspected his gun. "I mean, don't get me wrong, talking about weapons is kind of a good conversation starter, but you aren't gonna be able to make friends like that! You gotta try and break out of your shell!"

"Wh-that the?! I don't need to break out of my shell!" She pouted. "That's absolutely-!"

"Ridiculous!" The girls and boys paused and turned to find Jaune passing by, holding a slip of paper in confusion. "There's no way I put it in 636! I would have remembered to count that high!"

"Ugh...why did this have to happen on the first day?" He lamented. And this happened when he JUST put away his gear after his morning training.

The Lucians and sisters watched him walk off while taking note of his Glaive attire. "Say, guys...isn't that the jacket that members of the Kingsglaive wear?" Yang asked them.

"A gift from his mentor. If our guess is correct, he was taught personally by Commander Titus Drautos - the leader of the Glaive."

"Seriously?!" The sisters gasped upon hearing this. He was taught by the leader of the Kingsglaive?

Jaune, of course, didn't hear them. He was more focused on finding his damn locker. He knew for a fact that he didn't store it in that particular one. As he searched for it, he unknowingly passed by Pyrrha and Weiss, the latter of whom was engaged in conversation with the red-haired Spartan.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to who's team you would like to be on?" The heiress asked. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself."

"Hmm...I'm not quite sure..." Pyrrha mumbled, hiding her dejected frown. "I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may." But even as she said this, her mind was focused on a certain blonde boy that she had come to know within these past twenty-four hours.

A boy she was more than willing to partner with. Now, don't get her wrong. Partnering with Weiss was acceptable for her, but she wished for a partner that didn't treat her with the same damn recognition and respect her status gave her. She still failed to see why they just couldn't treat her normally. Winning a tournament a few times?

Anyone could have done it. Graduated from Sanctum with full marks? Others before her have done it. As far as she was concerned, the so-called 'Invincible Girl' was as ordinary as everyone here...yet it seemed that only Jaune treated her with what she desired.

Speaking of which, she caught the boy on her mind scouring the lockers with a look of irritation. No doubt looking for his equipment.

Because Pyrrha was occupied looking at Jaune with concern, she was unaware of the storming thoughts Weiss was cooking up in her mind.

'This will be perfect!' Weiss mentally schemed to herself. 'The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class. Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now: We'll be popular, we'll be celebrities, we'll get perfect grades! Nothing could come between us now!'

"Oh, hey, Pyrrha!" Her mental rant was cut short when the blonde male waved to the red-haired Spartan after finally locating his locker and retrieving his gear.

Pyrrha smiled thinly. "Sorry, Weiss," she apologized, clasping her hands together and bowing her head. "Let's talk later."

"E-eh? W-wait..."

Her weak protest reached deaf ears as the girl walked past her, joining with Jaune.

"Finally found your locker I see?" The Invincible Girl asked in amusement.

"Yeah...I swear, I didn't think I stored my weapon in that Locker...I must've been out of it from this morning..."

"Well, it was late." the girl pointed out. "Anyway, let's hurry to the cliff. I'm sure they'll be making an announcement soon."

Jaune nodded, and the two left, all the while oblivious of Weiss staring at them, mouth open.

Just...what in the name of Oum just happened?! Pyrrha Nikos left her for that... that scraggly blonde dunce from yesterday?! She just couldn't understand...Her mind was having difficulty processing this.

After her brain processed this, she found herself chasing after them. As a result, she didn't hear the announcement made over the speakers.

XXXXXXXXXX

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

At the cliff that oversaw the entirety of the Emerald Forest, the applicants that had been accepted into Beacon stood on platforms. In front of them were Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch, who were explaining the rules of Initiation.

Of course, among the students were Prompto and Noctis. Ignis and Gladio were nowhere to be found. The reason for this was that they were already inside the Emerald Forest, waiting for the two to arrive. Ozpin had directed them to specific platforms, though why was anyone's guess.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion," Goodwitch said as she adjusted her spectacles. "Each of you will be given teammates...today."

"What? Aw..." Ruby whimpered. That was fast. Already?

"These team mates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin continued. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you work well."

Ruby whimpered even more, anxiety building up.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." The Headmaster dropped the bomb.

Ruby felt her entire world crack before shattering. "WHAT?!"

"See?!" she heard a girl say in excitement. "I told you!"

Prompto patted Ruby on the back. "There there, Rubes," he told her. "It'll be fine!"

The red-hooded girl could only whimper at the thought of it. The first person to make eye contact with? That was so random!

"After you partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin continued. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Jaune looked on nervously, swallowing a lump in his throat. 'Sheesh, talk about laying it on thick.'

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

No one raised their hands. Not even Jaune. They all knew what was at stake. Even though this was another test that ensured their enrollment into Beacon, their lives were on the line.

Seeing this, Ozpin nodded. "Good! Now then, take your positions."

Every one of the students braced themselves on their individual platforms.

Taking poses, they brandished their weapons. Noctis and Prompto called for their weapons, which flashed into their hands in a burst of blue light, surprising and awing some of the students.

Jaune brandished Crocea Mars and unfolded his shield, pulling his hood over his head and placing the mask on his face.

Pyrrha brandished Milo and Akuo, the shield proudly accenting the beauty of the bronze-colored spear.

Weiss gave a flick, Myrtenaster slicing through the air as the revolving chamber spun.

The ginger-haired woman giggled as she took out what appeared to be a hammer while the magenta-eyed boy wielded a pair of twin pistols.

Yang grinned wickedly as she pounded her fists together, yellow gauntlets unfolding from the bands around her wrists while Ruby, with a look of nervousness on her face as she unfurled Crescent Rose.

Then, the students were launched into the air, one by one.

Some were silent with tension while others cheered in excitement, Yang, the ginger, and Prompto were among the latter. Once the last student in the alignment was launched, Ozpin turned to the airborne students, taking a sip from his mug.

"...you seem a tad bit disappointed," Glynda noted as she looked at her scroll. "Was it because you were hoping that someone would try and ask a question about the landing strategy, like they do every year?"

Ozpin had wisely chosen not to answer. Instead, he took his second sip. Regardless, Glynda smiled in amusement.

XXXXXXXXXX

"WOOHOO!"

Prompto was soaring through the air with the biggest grin on his face while Noctis tried to focus on not breaking his neck. As they flew over the green top of the forest, his eyes scanned for a place where he could Warp, lest he break his neck. True, he had Aura on his side, but he wasn't about to test its limits.

Eventually, they came across a clearing and he found his chance. He twisted his body around and tossed the Engine Blade as far as he could. Prompto, seeing the prince's actions, saw the chance for a landing strategy and whipped out what appeared to be a large clunk of metal, which proceeded to fold into itself and warp into what appeared to be some kind of oversized canon.

With a loud BANG, the blonde gunner was halted from his advance and knocked into the clearing, curling up into a ball to soften the landing. The Engine Blade struck the hide of a tree, and immediately Noctis felt the connection between him and his sword. His body glowed blue before he became a burst of blue light. Moments later, he reappeared, grabbing onto the hilt of his sword and hanging up in the air.

"Oof!" Prompto grunted as he hit the ground, rolling to a stop. He winced a bit as he rubbed his elbows. "Talk about a rough landing." He then turned to Noctis, bearing a grin. "How's the view, Your Highness?"

Noctis rolled his eyes. "Pleasant," he responded before he released his grip, hitting the ground. He held out his hand, and the Engine Blade disappeared from the tree, reappearing in his grasp. "Now, if you were Gladio or Ignis, where would you be?"

"Right here, Noct."

Both of the older Lucians stepped out from the foliage, regrouping with their friends. "Gotta say...that's one hell of a landing strategy, Prompto." Gladio admitted.

"Indeed, using the massive recoil to forcibly halt your advance was pretty reckless. You're fortunate your Aura protected you from the backlash." Ignis commented.

Prompto gave the two a cheeky smile. "What can I say?" he shrugged his shoulders, pointing his thumb at himself. "I love for the danger! Besides, I managed to snag a few pics! I'll show you guys when everything's over!"

"Speaking of which," Noctis said as he hefted his Engine Blade on his shoulder. "Any idea where this Temple is?"

"Given the trajectory where the Headmaster launched you all, I would imagine the Temple is due north of here." Ignis theorized.

"...aaand which way is North?" Prompto asked.

Noctis sighed, face-palming. "Its like camping in Duscae all over again."

"Yeah, tell me about it..." Gladio agreed. While their camping trips were fun, there were times when they were unable to follow the right direction given how vast Duscae was.

And then, of course, there was the wildlife. So long as you didn't piss off the more calm of the beasts that roamed the plains, you were fine. The scavengers that were known as the Sabertusks, however, were pains in the ass.

And now they were in a similar situation...only it involved Grimm, which were actively hunting them down rather than scavenging. As the boys pondered, they then noticed the various red eyes creeping up on them from within the green foliage.

They whipped out their weapons, and took up a circular formation, backs turned to one another. Ignis wielded a pair of curved, dual knives while Gladio hefted his greatsword in both hands, staring out wearily, expecting an attack.

"How many?" Noctis inquired.

Ignis scanned his surroundings, eyes glaring back at the many red stares through his glasses. "By my estimate? Thirty, perhaps forty."

"That's...a lot." Prompto said slowly before he twirled the chamber of his gun, grinning. "Hey, how about a bet? Guy who kills the least amount of Grimm has to clean up after dinner tonight!"

Noctis chuckled. "I'll take that bet."

"Then let's get to it!" Gladio announced. As if cuing the start of the friendly competition, the lead Grimm charged forth into view, revealing itself to be a wolf-like creature with elongated arms and bony spikes protruding from its back. Its face was covered by an ivory white mask with red markings. It was a Beowolf.

Other soon followed. With grins, the Lucians charged forward.

XXXXXXXXXX

Were it not for his training with his teacher, Jaune was sure that, had be been subjected to this, he would be screaming bloody murder for someone to save him. Now, however, as he sailed through the air, he could only feel...what was it? Excitement? Anticipation? He wasn't entirely sure.

Eventually, his body began to fall to gravity, dipping through the trees. It served to decelerate him enough that unless he did something, Aura or not, he was in for a world of pain.

Worse, he found a slope directly below him. Thankfully, he was quick enough to figure out his landing strategy at this moment. He tucked in his legs, keeping his feet planted on the inside of his shield. Thanks to the deceleration, his shield slid atop the slope with ease without him trying to keep it stabilized.

Now he felt excited. It was literally a few seconds ago, yet he found himself shield-surfing.

The metal surface of his shield glided smoothly against the wild grass of the Emerald Forest, the friction between the two surfaces gradually bringing him to a halt. Once the force carrying him on his shield ceased, he rolled into a somersault and propped up back on his feet. Not too soon either. If he hadn't stopped, he would've hit the boulder a few meters from where he stood.

Pulling the hood from his face, an ecstatic grin was seen. "That. Was. Awesome!" For his first attempt at a landing strategy, he did pretty well.

Man, he wondered what his sisters would say if they saw this? Sadly, he didn't have the time to ponder, as no sooner had he picked up his shield did the boulder in front of him shatter apart, sending chunks of debris flying at him. He brought up his shield, knocking them away. As the dust cloud settled, he lowered his arm and cursed, as standing before him was a Grimm. Like many, it stood on all fours and its body was black. Parts of its body were covered in ivory bone-like armor, and its face was no different, though it was partially cracked. Peering out were red eyes, narrowed at him with a mouth curled in rage as a roar escaped it, pounding its fists into its broad chest.

"A Beringel," Jaune muttered. "Just my like!" Taking a stance, he spread his feet apart and dragged Crocea Mars against its shield, creating sparks as it did so. "Alright, ya big ape! Bring it on!"

The Beringel roared once again, and leaped into the air, fist raised. Unknown to Jaune, a familiar girl with red hair had also taken into the air, a bronze shield and spear in hand.

XXXXXXXXXX

Lie Ren looked about the eerie innards of the Emerald Forest. Normally, the tranquil silence would have been appreciated as well as a good place to read, were it not for the fact that he could sense something shifting around him. It was constantly on the move, and zeroed around him. His magenta eyes were narrowed sharply at what appeared to be the body, remaining in the shadows.

He kept his breathing steady as he subtly tensed his body for the incoming attack. The sound of slithering movement invaded his ears amongst the silent surroundings. Soon, a large shadow loomed over him from behind. Rather than striking him directly, it shot out to the left and crawled along the ground, revealing its form to him. It was a massive snake clad in black scales and white markings on its forehead and back. It coiled up before him, its piercing red eyes locked with his.

Once it was coiled up completely, it shot forward with his mouth open wide.

Ren quickly acted and vaulted over it's head, an impressive feet given it's lightening quick snaps. He quickly put distance between the two, and took out his weapons, a pair of dual green guns with blades attached to the barrels. The long Grimm ripped through the ground as it advanced, pieces of earth sent flying and ripped apart in it's charging advance. Ren maneuvered away, a series of backflips allowing him to evade it's charge. However, as he was going through the air, the Grimm rammed it's body forward. At that moment, the teen called upon his Aura, and brought up his arms to defend against the attack. The force of the headbutt threw him quite a ways away, but he landed safely on his feet.

As he regained his bearings, Ren noticed that the snake had begun to coil around him, circling around his prey. Just before it could close in on him, he jumped up, and away from it's grasp. Ren opened fire on the beast, though his bullets did little to it's skin, which was as thick as armor. It hissed and screeched as it snapped toward him, however Ren propelled himself away from it as he parried it, using the side of it's head as a launching pad, and throwing himself onto it's body, sliding along it's spine as he continued to shoot at it. As the snake regained sight of it's target, it tried to swallow him whole, mouth open, but Ren was far quicker. In a rapid movement, he rammed his palms into the side of it's head, causing it to stagger as it reeled from the effects of the blow, and followed up with a swift kick to the head. This strike caused it's head to strike into the ground, leaving it's neck exposed. As it tried to get up, Ren quickly took the initiative, and the blades from his guns extended, slashing across the neck, and cutting through the armor.

The Grimm screamed out in rage, and snaked all around the air before slamming it's head into where Ren stood. He jumped up to avoid it, a cloud of dust and debris flying through the air below him. He took the initative, and threw himself back down to the ground, ramming his blades into the Taijutu's skull. The strength behind his attack forced back into the ground.

It didn't get back up.

Ren sighed, slightly exhausted from his encounter, but frowned when he heard something rustling behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and found himself staring at a white body with red markings, and a familiar face staring back at him, hissing and bearing it's fangs while it's red eyes glared at him.

"...shit!" he cursed as he jumped off to the side, avoiding the white Grimm from slamming into him. As he brought up his guard, his magenta eyes frowned heavily when he saw the black snake move up, it's form slightly drowsy form the attack. Upon a closer look, the white Taijutu and the black Taijutu were actually apart of the same body, dancing and moving together as they glared down on him. Dread filled him as he clenched his grip over his weapons, wishing he had some backup right about now. Mustering his courage, he ran over. He jumped over the white head's assault, running along it's back, and sliding along it's spine, and began to open fire on the creatures. He continuously moved his body around as he slid along the body of the Grimm, aiming for various parts, but found that none of his attacks were making a dent. As he jumped up, intending to get a better vantage point, one of the heads shout out from nowhere, and batted him away, tossing him to the ground, and his guns thrown out of his hands.

Ren groaned as he stood up to his knee, a hand on his head. "That hurt..." he muttered before looking up, finding the black head of the Taijutu glaring down at him, it's mouth open. It's head snapped forward with the intent on devouring him. Ren brought up his hands, and braced himself. The snake tried to bite down on him. Keyword was tried, as its fangs were stopped by a glowing plan on Ren's hands. The teen struggled against the force behind the strike, but stood his ground. In a swift motion, he pushed his hands forward, snapping the fangs in his hands, grabbed them, and with a fierce palm strike powered by his aura, shot the ivory spire through the Grimm's eye.

It's form quaked as the fang went out through the other end. A second later, it's head imploded. The black half of the snake fell to the ground, now lifeless. Ren turned his attention to the white half of the Taijutu, and narrowed his eyes. "...one down."

The snake hissed in fury, and charged forward with the boy going on to face it head on.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ruuuuuuby? Helloooooo?" Yang called out as she trekked through the woods. It had already been five minutes since she landed, and still no sign of her sister.

The blonde brawler wasn't worried about her, knowing full well that she was perfectly capable of protecting herself...but at the same time, she couldn't help but try to find her, in spite of her insistence that Ruby try to find other people to fight alongside with. Perhaps it was her sisterly nature acting up, but she still couldn't help but feel anxious. After all, her adorable younger sister entered Beacon two years early. She was worried that she may not even fit in with her fellow students. Yes, Noctis was here, but she was still worried.

"Rubes?" she called out. "Hey! Ruby! You here?! Hello!" she bellowed out, only to receive her own echo as a response. A shake of the head followed, and a sigh came after. "Why am I not surprised?" She scratched the back of her head as she observed her surroundings. The forest was oddly quiet, but she could hear fighting off in the distance. Most likely, teams were being formed as they speak.

Now, don't get her wrong, she was looking for a team herself, but she was looking for Ruby because she was worried about her. She came to Beacon two years ahead of everyone else, so she was easily nervous, despite her confidence in her skills. She would form a team with Ruby, there was little doubt about that, but she wanted her sister to strike out on her own. After all, she wouldn't be there to cuddle her forever.

Suddenly, movement was seen out of the corner of her eye. "Ruby?" Yang asked, peeking through the brushel. "Is that you?"

The black shadow growled. It stood on all fours before it rose up and stood on its hind legs. It was a massive, bear-like creature with fur as black as midnight. It's back was covered with ivory spikes while a white mask with red markings was present on its face.

Yang's smile dropped. "...nope."

She rolled out of the way as the Ursa pounced and swiped at her with its claws. She rolled back onto her feet and readied her shotgun gauntlets, the Ember Celica. She backflipped away as another Ursa came again for another swipe, landing and now facing two bear-like Grimm. As the one on the right charged at her, she pulled back her right fist and slammed it into the body of the Ursa, releasing a kinetic energy round and hurling it several feet away.

The other Ursa charged as well after its brother failed in the attack. It stood on its hind legs to grab her with both paws, but Yang used this opening to deliver an uppercut and body blow in quick succession, throwing it back.

It tumbled, rolling before it stopped on its back. It gave a low growl as it rolled over, getting back on its legs and snarling at her. "Hey, boys!" she greeted with a grin. "You wouldn't have happened to see a little girl with a red hood, would ya?" She received a roar, and the two charged at her again. "Jeez. You could have just said no."

Yang ducked underneath an overhead swing of the Ursa's paw, and backflipped to avoid a follow-up swing with its other paw. Once getting to safety, Yang couldn't help but laugh. "Geez, you two couldn't hit the broadside of a ba-" Her words were cut off as her eyes were locked on a strand of blonde hair fluttering to the ground.

...HER blonde hair...

The Grimm suddenly felt tense when they saw her body trembling. "Y-you..." Creatures of Grimm held only instincts within them. They knew where to find prey by the feeling of aura, a power that belonged only to humans, those with a soul. It was within their instincts to destroy and maim and kill whatever possessed a soul, yet it was also within their instincts to recognize a potential threat. "Y-you...!" And now, a threat stood before them. Yang's head snapped up, her hair suddenly glowing like fire, and her lilac eyes turning bright crimson.

"YOU MONSTERS!"

She flung her fists behind her, allowing the recoil of her gauntlets to propel her foreward to the closest Ursa. Once she was right in the enemy's face she swung her right arm in a jaw-shattering right hook followed with a left handed uppercut. This time, it's body was thrown back, thrashing to the ground before hitting a tree. Before it even had a chance to recover, the Ursa was suddenly bombarded with strike after strike after strike. The tree threatened to break was the Grimm was pressed further into it, it's belly being torn apart with each shot. The Ursa howled in agony. Yang delivered once final blow right in the throat. The tree gave way. The bark snapped away, and the Ursa plowed through it, neck crushed and broken. The tree fell over, hitting the ground with a thud. The earth shuddered below their feet. A bellow from behind her reminded that Yang there was another Ursa behind her. She was still seething from the damaging of her hair. She wouldn't be happy until she bashed it apart.

"You're next..." She seethed.

The Ursa roared. But before it could even move, a sharp blade stabbed itself into the back of its skull. The blade was then torn free and sliced through the Grimm's neck and upper back. The bear-like creature swayed a bit before toppling over. Yang raised a brow at the sudden action, then saw who stood behind the Ursa.

It was Blake.

The two stared at each other, with the latter pulling out her black blade from the dead beast, slipping it into it's holster.

Yang broke the silence. "...I could have taken it."

XXXXXXXXXX

Ren panted heavily as he slipped his weapons into his sleeves, exhausted as he stood atop the corpse of the slowly dissolving Taijutu. The battle was far longer than he anticipated, but he was finally able to defeat the damned thing. He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he straightened himself out, rubbing his shoulders and dusting himself off. 'That was more difficult than I thought,' he thought to himself as he wiped off the dirt on his sleeves. 'I hope there are still people I can team up with.' He paused. '...I wonder how Nora's doing?'

"Bhhrrrra! Bhhrrra!"

He smiled softly. 'Speak of the Devil.' He looked behind him, and found Nora, hanging from a tree branch, upside down with a massive grin on her face. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

The orange haired girl let out a broad grin. "Boop!" She took her finger and tapped him on the nose.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Gotta find Yang or Noct, gotta find Yang or Noct!" Ruby chanted as she sped through the forest at top speed, leaving behind a trail of red rose petals.

She was in a panic. Ever since she touched down on the ground, she's been anxious. Now anyone she makes eye contact with will be her partner for the next four years. She had to do whatever it took to make sure her partner was someone she knew, like Yang or Noct.

She wanted a partner she liked, or tolerated, at the very least KNEW in some capacity! Noctis she knew for a long time. It had been a long time since they met, but they responded with messages and letters from one another every now and then. Yang was a given. She was her sister for Dust's sake! In a way, she was Ruby's best bet here, and was praying to whatever god there may be that she would be able to get her as a partner. Of course there was also Prompto too, though chances are, he was already with Noct. Cripes, who else was there? Well, there was that Jaune guy she saw back at the lockers! He seemed pleasant enough! But, wait, what if he turned out to be a total creep?! Oh, how she hated this! Why did the Headmaster have to make this so darn complicated?!

"Look out!"

Ruby snapped out of her thoughts upon the shout, but by the time she heard it, it was too late. Without realizing it, she had set herself on a direct collision course with a particularly large tree. With her Semblance on at full force, she slammed straight into it at top speed. As a result, the audible 'SLAM!' could be heard for miles, startling any baby Nevermores from their sleep and taking off in fright. Ruby was glued to the tree before she fell, hitting the ground. "Owwie..."

"Are you an idiot?!" the same voice from before screeched in worry. "Look where you're going!"

As Ruby's vision cleared up, she found another girl around her sister's age standing over here. Her skin had an alabaster complexion and had long, beautiful snow-white hair that fell to her knees tied up into a side ponytail. She was garbed in a white dress cut off mid thigh with a black lace on her chest. She wore a white long-sleeved top with a red interior and white boots that went up halfway up her shins. She wore a pair of line earrings and a silver pendant.

The silver-eyed girl saw that she was also extending a hand out to her. "Here," she said. Ruby graciously took the hand and was pulled up to her feet, wincing. Sweet Remnant, her body hurt. Wasn't Aura supposed to be like some kind of shock absorber or something? She swears she's still reeling from the feeling of being hit. "Are you alright? That looked like it hurt."

"It did." Ruby winced. "Owwie..."

The girl sighed, pinching her nose. "That's what you get for running without thinking." she chided before she paused, quirking an eyebrow, now noticing that she was younger than her. "Aren't you a bit young to be here?" At this, Ruby gave a low whine. Oh boy, here it comes. The whole fracking 'bee's knees' treatment! The one thing she wanted to avoid! The girl leaned in a bit further, examining her face. After a minute, her eyes widened. "Wait a second...you're the girl from the news! The one that fought that scoundrel Torchwick!"

Ruby's whine this time was more audible as she pulled her hood over her head, trying to cover her pitiful face, much to the confusion of her new partner.

She can't believe that this girl here knew about it too...why couldn't she be a normal girl with normal knees...she didn't want to be known for THAT...

"Why can't I just be normal knees...?" she muttered, making the girl tilt her head.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Seems all pairs have been formed."

Glynda said as she walked up towards her boss, scroll in hand. On the screen displayed various positions within the Emerald forest, showing each pairing of students.

She focused on one of the videos, showing Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. "That poor boy," she said with slight wonder. According to the records, they grew up together in the same orphanage, though given the eccentric and hyper behavior of the girl, the professor knew that she would be a handful. "I can't imagine how he'll handle her." She looked at Ozpin, who simply gave a shrug with a small smile of approval. Glynda rolled her eyes and turned to another footage. This time, her face showed approval. "Still, I was surprised by this one. Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc."

"The Invincible Girl of Mistral," the Headmaster said in amusement. "And the student of Titus Drautos, Commander of the Kingsglaive."

"That is what surprises me." Glynda shook her head. "I was not aware of Commander Drautos taking on a student outside of the Kingsglaive. While Mr. Arc has demonstrated combat capability, his form is still rough around the edges."

"But has potential." the man countered with equal force. "Though one can say the same about Ghira and Tai's daughters."

Glynda groaned. "Please, don't remind me." she said. "I still pity Ms. Belladonna for getting Ms. Xiao Long. If she is anything like her father, I can expect students in the infirmary and pranks all around." She gave a low sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well...at least I won't have to deal with another Qrow. Those two together were always so exhausting."

Of that, Ozpin was certain. Still, one could not deny that the two had good chemistry. He hoped to see that again with Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. In a way, it was like looking into the past. WHen he first came here, Qrow was always so serious and up-tight, yet he was still able to find time to be his lax and casual self. Back then, he was still having trouble accepting the nature of his Semblance before he finally decided to live with it. Going by Yang's records, she was every bit the same as her father.

Unknown to Glynda, though, Ozpin had his own feed of Initiation up. Focusing on one particular student. 'Were it not for the cape,' Ozpin thought sadly, eyes softening. 'I could have sworn Summer was still alive.'

Ruby Rose was every bit the splitting image of her mother, Summer Rose. She was practically a carbon copy of her. She was the leader of Team STRQ, and practically the glue that held all four members together. Even when Raven left right after Yang's birth for unknown reasons, the team of four still kept in touch one way or another. But after Summer's demise...things were never the same.

Tai had experienced loss of a wife for the second time and mourned, Qrow turned into even more of a drunkard than before, and Raven fell off the grid completely, aside from the occasional messages to her brother.

But to a pair of young girls, they had lost their mother.

As for the Lucians that befriended the white-cloaked weapons fanatic...

Well...their grief came in the form of either finding the nearest Behemoth to skin and tear apart out of grief and rage or drowning their sorrows in a bottle.

Either way, it had been a bleak time. Ozpin's grip on his cane tightened. So many people felt the pain of loss...all because of his machinations...

"Oz?"

The man gave a slow sigh, trying to alleviate the tension in his body. He was truly becoming too old. "Apologies," he told her. "Just dueling with unpleasant thoughts." he said before closing the feed. "So, how is the Prince and his entourage?"

"They are doing quite well," Glynda responded as she pulled up another screen. "They have already regrouped and are making their way towards the Temple."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ba-bum-bum-ba-bumba-bum~"

From atop a large cliff, one even higher than that of the one the faculty of Beacon was one, a single individual was observing the progress of the students that traversed the Emerald Forest, dealing with Grimm along the way. The individual was a middle-aged man with violet-red hair, amber eyes, and strong facial features. His attire consisted of a long, black jacket with a white and gray trim and matching trousers. He also wore a red scarf and a hooded, gray and white mantle. He also had a strange, black, wing-like accessory on his left arm. On his face was a mysterious smile.

His gaze was focused on a particular group of Lucians traversing the treacherous woods to reach their destination. More specifically, his eyes were focused on the Crown Prince.

"He looks just like Regis in his younger days," the man noted, chuckling. "I wonder if he'll be up to whatever lady fate has in store for him."

Suddenly, a presence emerged from behind him, materializing from black wisps. Stepping out was a figure garbed almost completely in white. A long coat covered the majority of their being, ending at the calves with black trims and highlights, mostly prominent around the hood that obscured their face and the cuff of the sleeves, stripes running down each side and to the cuff. Covering their hands were black gloves, marked by a white design resembling a fractured crystal. Underneath the coat was a neck muffler, combined with what appeared to be a dark gray suit, plus white pants with a pouch strapped to the thigh. Their face was obscured by a black mask, bearing only eyeholes for vision and false teeth resembling fangs as if invoking the image of a ferocious beast.

Noticing his presence, the man gave a sideways glance to the masked individual. "I believe you were supposed to be with our benefactor's little queen?" he asked with curiosity. "Or is this a social visit?" The masked figure said nothing. Rather, his gaze was focused on someone specific in the Emerald Forest. Noticing his gaze, the man laughed. "Now now. You'll have your chance. Have a bit of patience, boy."

"...if that is your wish." the masked individual said, his tone showing hostility, yet ultimately subdued and stepped back, obeying the man's words. The man smiled a bit. Obedient as always. Just as the man turned his attention back to the Forest, an idea sprung in his head, which caused him to chuckle. The Grimm were amusing to see, but watching them fight was just so dull after a while.

Now, other creatures...

"Per chance, do you have a little beastie to spare?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Man, who knew Gladio would be so photogenic while doing a suplex to a Beowolf?"

Prompto asked as he examined the most recent photo taken. It showed the largest male of the group slamming the Grimm to the ground in a suplex hold. It was a pretty good shot if he said so himself.

Gladio grunted. "Please, it was a light-weight."

"Whatever that may be, I must say, it was easier than dealing with the pests back home." Ignis remarked. He kept a careful eye out for anymore Grimm while keeping them on track to find the Temple. "A shame they don't leave anything behind. I could have used something for a new recipe I've been meaning to try."

"And what's that?" Noctis asked with a curious look. "Grimm Stew?"

"Quite possibly. Or a Grimm steak depending the taste." Ignis replied.

The group gave their resident strategist a look. Normally, the idea of eating a Grimm was actually disgusting to think about, but it was Ignis they were talking about. Give him the shittiest ingredients, and he could make a five-star dish that would make even the most hardy of critiques weep. However, there was the problem that when a Grimm is killed, their bodies would evaporate. You'd be lucky if you even got so much as a tooth as a spoil of war.

That specific trait of Grimm was what made them so difficult to study about them. It was impossible to dissect them to learn about their physiology as their bodies would break down and evaporate before reaching the surgical table.

The same can be said about Grimm held in captivity. Unless you had taken special measures, any Grimm that was captured would follow the same process as before when slain, only this time it was more of a defensive mechanism. To date, only a handful of Grimm have ever been studied, but nowhere near enough to solve the myriad of mysteries that lay hidden in their black bodies.

All the known information about them were a handful of species such as the Beowolves, Ursai, Creeps, Griffons, Nevermores, King Taijutus, Deathstalkers, and Boarbatusks. There are many other species, but are not well known.

Back to the present, though, Noctis thought about the prospect of turning Grimm into delectable food. Needless to say, it was enough to make his mouth water. "...we'll see if a Grimm happens to leave something behind next time we kill it."

"Noted." The chef of the group nodded while the other two looked at him in an odd manner. Was he seriously thinking about trying to eat Grimm?

Well, then again, it wouldn't be the first time he thought about eating something strange.

After a good few minutes of trekking along, the Lucians came across a large open clearing. In the center was the Temple. "There it is!" Prompto cheered. "Whoo! Made it!"

The Temple was a mass of stone structures resembling ruins. In the middle of the stone circle were a series of podiums with what appeared to be Chess pieces stacked upon them.

The Lucians approached it with caution. "Guess a few other people beat us to the punch." Noctis noted, seeing that there were more than a few pieces missing. However, he noticed that one of the pieces was different from the others. "What's this?" Curious, he picked it up. It was a "king" piece, though unlike the others which were black or white, this one appeared to be made of glass, as it was easily see-through. Furthermore, it was the only "king" piece among the entire set, whereas the rest of the pieces were bishops, rooks, knights and pawns. The "queen" piece was nowhere to be found. "Huh. Weird."

"What'cha got there, Noct?" Prompto asked as he slung his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Huh. Cool piece. Its...different from the others, though."

"Perhaps meant for us." Ignis quipped. "After all, we're already made a team as far as the Headmaster is concerned."

"Yeah, true." Noctis shrugged.

It made sense when he thought about it. It was the only piece of its kind from what they've seen, and they are the only four to be made a team already. So it must be their proof of passing the Initiation. Shrugging, Noctis pocketed the chess piece.

As he did, he heard a familiar voice call out. "Noct! Is that you?!" He turned, and to his pleasant surprise, found Ruby waving at him. Surprisingly, she already had a partner it seems: a girl dressed primarily in white with cold blue eyes.

"Nice to see you too!" he called back as she approached excitedly. "So, you already got yourself a partner?"

Ruby nodded strongly, practically zipping over to him. "Her name's Weiss! She's kind of, well...haughty, but she's cool!"

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked in indignation, full well within hearing range. "That did you just call me?"

Eeep!" In seconds, Ruby dashed behind Noctis for protection. "I'm sorry!"

Prompto chuckled. "They get along so well already." he said, earning a chilling stare from Weiss as well. "What?"

"I have to say, I'm a bit impressed." Ignis remarked. "I never would have imagined Ms. Rose partnering with the heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation."

"Oh, it's you, Ignis." Weiss greeted upon seeing him in the group. Then her eyes trailed to the people around him, people she was unfamiliar with.

She naturally blushed when she saw Gladio's rippling form exposed in full view. A flash of light came in a burst, causing her to blink and found Prompto smiling, holding up a camera. Her eyes then wandered to Noctis, who gave her a nod.

Given that Ignis was with them, the white-haired girl automatically assumed that one of them was the prince of Lucis. The burly one didn't seem the princely type, but you never knew. The blonde haired boy was the least likely, but she wouldn't rule anything out. The black-haired boy seemed to be the most likely candidate.

After a small debate, she decided to look at the relics, and quirked an eyebrow. "Chess pieces?" she asked, doubtful. "Are these what we're supposed to retrieve?"

"Seems like." Noctis answered.

He wasn't quite sure about it himself. But if it was Ozpin's choice, then who was he to question? The Schnee heiress walked up and retrieved one of the white Knight pieces from one of the podiums.

"Would this be acceptable?" the heiress asked, turning to Ruby. She did have a glare in her gaze, given her earlier remark, but after a moment it softened. She wouldn't get angry over something as petty as that. Besides, least she could do was give the girl a benefit of a doubt.

When they encountered a group of Beowolves, she had shown off some impressive capabilities. She could see why Ozpin allowed her here, though that may have been judging too quickly. To her pleasure, though, Ruby gave an excited nod. With that, she pocketed it away. "I suppose all that's left is to-"

"YEEEEEHAAAAAW!"

The teenagers jumped at the sudden scream of excitement, diverting their attention from the conversation towards the woods, where a large shadow was quickly approaching the clearing.

The shadow revealed itself to be a Major Ursa, charging out from the forest and rising to its hind legs before the large beast suddenly ceased, it's body swaying and falling to the ground. Falling off of it was a girl with short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing was a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wore a collared black vest that ended at her waist. Her apparent emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt, was found on the back. Under the vest were two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively. She sported a turquoise bow at the back of her skirt. She also wore a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wore matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sported a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes were a mix of pink and white with pink laces, displaying her emblem on their soles. She also wore armor that began in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist. "Aww, it's broken!" the girl pouted before she hopped atop it's body, looking down at the corpse. "Ewww..."

"Nora...?" a weak voice called out. Staggering away from the Ursa, clearly winded, was a male teenager with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ended midway down his back. There was a magenta streak on the left side of his hair. His eyes were pale pink, and wore a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that was red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming went down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar. He also wore a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit, and light-tan pants with black shoes. "Please," he begged. "Never do that again." To his confusion, the girl was gone, causing him to look around wildly for her.

He didn't have to look far, as in a split second, she was right next to Gladio, looking at a white Rook piece. "Ooooh~!" she said, ogling the piece before she darted around with the chess piece atop her head. "I'm Queen of the Castle~! I'm Queen of the Castle~!"

"NORA!"

Nora stopped her little dance and grinned. "Heehee...Coming Ren~" She saluted as she dropped the Rook from her head into her hand and skipped over to her partner.

The four teens plus two adults blinked rapidly at what they had seen before Weiss spoke up, voicing the thoughts on everyone's mind. "Did that girl...just come here...riding atop an Ursa?"

"Uh..." Ruby tried to answer, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice whooping. Looking up, she found something blonde coming down fast. She blinked rapidly, and tugged on Noctis' shirt. He looked at her, and she pointed at the blur. "Noct...is that...?"

He looked up...and deadpanned. "Yep...it's Yang."

"YAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOO!"

"...We should get out of the way." Ignis advised. At once, the others moved away from flying girl's trajectory. A few second later, the blonde brawler landed.

The ground buckled under the force of the impact. A cloud of dust was kicked up from the landing. Upon dispersing, revealing Ruby's elder sister covered in dirt with a wide grin on her face. "Nailed it!"

She turned the group, grinning. "Hello, ladies and gents~ Having a nice day?" They simply continued to stare at her, and then turned their attention up to a familiar black shape flying above. Seconds later, another blur came down, only this one apparently angled itself towards the trees. As soon as it touched the green tops, it bounced from branch to branch before landing, revealing herself to be what they assumed was Blake's partner.

It was a girl with long, wavy black hair that end at her mid back with a pair of black triangular appendages sitting on top of her head. Her eyes were golden amber, almost like a cat's. She was dressed in a sleeveless white blouse that exposed her midriff with a black vest over it. She also wore white shorts with leggings that transitioned from black to purple on the way down and black combat boots with metal studs around the top. Around her neck was a black scarf. She had a single black, sleeve on her left arm that extended to her upper bicep while both of her wrists had black bandages wrapped around them like bands.

"Yo, kitty cat!" Yang grinned. "Was that awesome, or what?!"

The black haired Faunus gave the blonde brawler a flat stare. "...if your idea of 'awesome' was flying on a Nevermore," she said slowly with a tone matching her expression. "Then I would hate to see what you're idea of a bad time is."

"Wait...what did you just say? A Nevermore?" Prompto asked in confusion. His response was Blake pointing upward. The other teens inclined their heads and saw a massive, avian Grimm circle above their heads. It had a coat of feathers was as black as night, with glowing red eyes peering through the ivory mask on the top of its head. It had a long, feathered tail and two pairs of talons protruding from the wrist of each wing.

He then looked back at the two. "And you two...were riding it?"

"Her idea," Blake said immediately. "Not mine."

"Hey! It was awesome! Plus, it gave us a good vantage point to find the Temple. so, win-win." Yang shrugged.

The group stared at her once more. Weiss turned to Ruby. "That's your sister, right?" she asked. Ruby's groan was her answer. "Is she...always that insane?"

"Sadly...yes."

The moment passed, however, when the sound of screeching reached their ears. They turned to the direction it emerged from, and found the trees trembling. Emerging from the Emerald Forest were Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos, running as fast as they could with their weapons out in full view. Seconds later, the towering form of a Death Stalker emerged, chasing after them with blazing red eyes trained on their retreating forms.

"Is that a Death Stalker chasing them?!" The blonde photographer gawked at the size of the Grimm. Its appearance was one that of a giant, monster scorpion, black with ivory plating covering most of its body.

"Less gawking!" Gladio suddenly whipped out his broadsword, face serious. "More helping! Noct!"

"Right!" The crown Prince nodded as he materialized his Engine Blade. He threw it at the approaching Grimm and vanished into a mass of blue shards as the blade soared through the air.

Seconds later, he re-appeared above the two, holding his Engine Blade in hand. The Death Stalker let out a shrill shriek as it swung its tail at him, intending to impale him. The sword blocked it with ease, the stinger gliding against the edge before he parried it and landed back on the ground. The scorpion Grimm raised its pincers with the intent to crush him, though as it swung its claw down upon him, it found a giant blade blocking its strike. "Not a chance, ya oversized arachnid!" Gladio growled. "Iggy!"

"On it!" The brains of the group reached into his coat pocket and pulled a spherical device. He pressed a button then hurled it at the Grimm. Once it got close enough, Noctis forced the stinger back and warped away. The metal ball then struck the Grimm, exploding and encasing it in blocks of ice.

The group then backed off, watching as the Death Stalker fruitlessly tried to remove itself out of its prison. The teens behind them watched the sight in an utter stupor, thrown completely off guard by what happened.

They had never seen such a thing before. Just what did Ignis use to throw at the Grimm?!

"What." Jaune said slowly. "The fuck. Was that?!"

"Swear." Ruby said, though one could easily tell that it was more of an automated response as she was staring at the sight, star-struck. Was that that Elemancy stuff her uncle Qrow talked about?! So freaking cool! It was like a Dust bomb, only far more potent!

"It's an Elemental Bomb. Quite handy in situations like this." Ignis answered as he twirled his daggers.

The Lucians regrouped with the teens, all the while keeping an eye on the squirming Death Stalker. "It will not hold the Grimm for long. Best retrieve the relics and rendezvous at the cliff. We don't have to fight."

"He's right," Jaune said in agreement. "All the Headmaster said was to grab the relics. I say we take 'em, and book it."

"Then let's go." Yang exclaimed as she grabbed the lone white Knight Piece while Jaune grabs the remaining white Rook piece.

Just as they were about to leave, the ground began to quiver. "The hell?!" Gladio growled. The group turned, and found something approaching. The trees were being torn down, falling to the ground with a shudder as whatever advanced to their location moved. From above, the Nevermore gave a squawk, suddenly taking higher. Ignis frowned. 'Its afraid?' he thought, narrowing his eyes. Very rarely were beasts who were attracted to negativity suddenly taken over by the instinct of fear. His eyes then turned to whatever approached. Everyone readied their weapons.

Finally, it emerged. To their immense shock, what came out of the Emerald Forest was not a Grimm...but a beast. It was towering, easily as big as a giant boulder. Its body was dark purple with a wild orange mane streaking down its back, and bearing snarling white fangs. Its body walked on all fours, muscles thick with strength and power. Enough to end a human being with ease. Atop its head were long, sleek horns. On the left side, a glowering green eye was lit aflame with rage, whereas the right eye was blank and scarred, with two diagonal slashes running across it. A tail lashed around behind it, lined with sharp quills of fur.

"...oh you have gotta be fucking kidding me!"

The Behemoth snarled, and then reared its head back, releasing a powerful roar.

"▄▅▄▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅!"

XXXXXXXXXX

As soon as the beast was shown on the screen, Ozpin's heart raced and turned to Glynda. "Inform Peter and Bartholomew at once!" he barked, his tone deadly serious. "I don't care if they're still setting up a classroom!"

"Y-Yes sir!" the blonde professor said with haste before she took off. Meanwhile, Ozpin scowled furiously as he turned back to the Emerald Forest. He didn't understand this. This should have been impossible. They had surveyed the area only a few minutes ago before they started Initiation, and there was absolutely no sign of it anywhere! There was no way it could have found its way inside the grounds without them noticing! Furthermore, there were absolutely no sightings of it in the surrounding area either! So how?!

"What in the hell is a Behemoth doing here?!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"And now," the man grinned widely as he stood up, eyes focused as the creature his faithful soldier brought forth began its hunt. And who better to be its prey than the Prince of Lucis and a Silver-Eyed Huntress? "The fun begins! I wish I had brought some popcorn."

The masked individual said nothing. He stared out at the sight before he turned as a portal of green, red and black flowed before him. "I best return," he said. "I will inform you of any new developments."

"Very well." the man said, keeping his back facing him. He was far too engrossed in what would come about. "Do tell me if something interesting occurs, won't you? I wouldn't want to miss it for the wall."

The mysterious male gave a bow. "Of course...Your Majesty."

"Oh, come now. I've told you, time and time again, never to call me that. Far too formal." the man turned to his ally and smiled widely. "Besides, I haven't been a king in YEARS."

"No matter what you say, you will always be my King. Now and forever." The figure responded resolutely before turning and entering the portal, leaving the man alone.

The man sighed, shaking his head. Really, when he said it like that, he felt like he was looking at a kicked puppy. Foul play, in his book.

Then again...it was proof he taught the soldier well. Well, at any rate, he was serious about the popcorn, though. He really wished he had some on him. After all...a Prince fresh out of Lucis, testing his mettle against a Behemoth? It promised to be quite the show.

"Now then, little prince," Ardyn Izunia smiled like the devil himself, tipping his hat. "Let's see how well you do."

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 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, Fate: Horizons, and Hellbent Ghost of the Rebellion.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter III: The RWBY, The JNPR, and The LAPI (Part II)**

"...oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" The Prince of Lucis exclaimed with a tired glare.

Standing before the 12 individuals was a fully grown Behemoth. The gargantuan beast growled at them as it stood tall on all four legs, it's fangs bared.

"O-oh god." Jaune whimpered. "Um, Your Highness. Please tell me that's not what I think it is!"

"I'm afraid it is, Jaune." Ignis said morbidly. "It's definitely a Behemoth."

"W-what's a Behemoth?" Ruby asked, terrified and unfamiliar with most Lucian wildlife.

Before any could answer, the Behemoth released another roar. The Death Stalker emerged out from the ice prison, shaking off the remnants of cold bits before it whirled around, letting out a screech at the monster. The beast roared in turn before pouncing on the scorpion-like Grimm. It leaped over its body, which was an understatement given the sheer size of the beast, and in mid-leap, it grabbed the Death Stalker by the tail, fangs crushing the armor plating in between its teeth and dragging it along.

With the appendage still in its jaws, the Behemoth whipped its head around, dragging and thrashing the Deathstalker all over the place. It's ivory exoskeleton impacted the ground and trees surrounding it,

Splinters, pieces of rock - debris was kicked around everywhere with each impact. Some even broke into the shell that protected its body. With one final whiplash, the scorpion-Grimm was finally released...only it was sent flying through the air with black gunk spewing out of its severed tail, which was now as long as the tiny strings of flesh that attached the main body to the large pincers. The Behemoth crushed the remnants of the tail, spitting out the black remnants that began to quickly dissolve before it craned its head, finding the Death Stalker thrashing about wildly, screeching in pain erratically.

Its screams caused the initiates to cover their ears, the painful cries uncomfortable and unbearable to listen. It sounded much like hundreds of nails scratching a chalkboard.

The large beast let out a low growl, and stalked its prey. It planted its foot down on its stomach, preventing it from moving before it let out another roar and dug its fangs into its head, head pulling and tugging before, with impressive and terrifying strength, it pulled its head back...and ripped the Death Stalker in half.

The screeches of agony ceased as the carcass fell limp. It's remains had begun to dissolve into wisps of black smoke.

The Behemoth, on the other hand, was chewing up the remains of its head. Dissatisfied with the taste, the beast spat it out, leaving a mass of black gunk splattered on the forest floor.

The teens removed their hands from their ears and stared at the scene in horror and dread.

"H-holy shit!" Prompto shouted as he backpedaled, his face pale. "It ripped that sucker in half!"

Ignis frowned heavily as he prepared his knives. "I've heard that the wildlife in Lucis were capable of fighting off the Grimm," he noted tensely. "But seeing an Elder Grimm being slaughtered so easily...!"

"Guys, heads up!" Ruby shouted, pointing a finger upwards. The group looked up, and found the Nevermore squawked, flapping its wings before dive-bombing towards the beast.

The Behemoth craned its head toward the diving Nevermore and growled in what appeared to be annoyance. Instead of moving out of the way, the beast stood its ground and opened its maw.

What happened next surprised the group even further.

As the Nevermore was within range to strike, the Behemoth shot out a plume of fire from its jaws, enveloping the avian Grimm.

In a matter of seconds, the stream of dark red flames reduced the bird to ashes, not even allowing it let out a single cry. As the flames faded away, leaving only smoke to blow from within the jaws of the beast, there was not even a shred of the Grimm remaining.

"The hell?!" Gladio hissed. "Since when do Behemoth's breath fire?!"

"This one, apparently!" Noctis remarked before the group froze as the Behemoth turned towards them, eyes set on them with a predatory gaze. "Ah, shit! Everyone, get ready!"

The others prepped their weapons in hand as the gargantuan beast took an earth-rumbling step towards them.

Then, it leaped up, mouth agape with claws at the ready.

The group of twelve scattered from its trajectory and positioned themselves to flank it after it landed.

Prompto joined with Ren and Blake, gunning it from behind while Yang and Gladio charged up front, Nora trailing behind them. The blonde brawler struck first, slamming her fist straight into its snout and letting off a round, causing the head to recoil. Gladio followed up by slashing at one of its legs, creating a sizable gash in its ankle, though it seemed to barely faze the creature as it instead merely gave a growl of annoyance, raising a claw to crush them. However, a pink grenade exploded in its face, causing it to become stunned for a moment, allowing Gladio to escape.

"Yes!" Nora cheered. "Headshot!" She soon stopped her celebration, however, when the Behemoth turned, and flames danced in its mouth. "Oh no."

Quickly, she threw herself to the ground, avoiding the jet stream of flames that blazed through the grass. She then scrambled to get away as it began to crane its head, burning everything around it. The group was then forced to run around, avoiding the flames.

It swung its head from side to side to spread the fire over a wide area. Pretty soon, the surrounding foliage was lit ablaze as their air grew hotter and drier with each passing moment.

"Whoa!" Ruby cried, avoiding a nearby sprout of flame that nearly set her cloak on fire. "Hot hot hot!"

Jaune gritted his teeth, his skin becoming caked in sweat. "This is bad...any ideas, Your Highness?!"

Noctis quickly scanned the surrounding area, running calculations in his mind. The Behemoth set the surrounding trees ablaze to trap them in the clearing, slowly diminishing the oxygen in the area as smoke took its place. They had to find a way out of here and challenge it in a different area. If they stayed, it would only be a losing battle.

It was at that moment he noticed a path close to the ruins, still untouched by the fire.

"Everyone, come on!" he shouted, pointing to the escape route.

The other teens, alongside the Crownsguard, were quick to follow after him. In the midst of the flames, the Behemoth let loose a thundering roar that resounded, and soon chased after them.

XXXXXXXXXX

"My oh my," Ardyn chuckled, clapping his hands. "Splendid performance so far, young prince. Don't give up now. The best is yet to come!"

The dark-clad man still remained sitting on his vantage point, thoroughly enjoying the show. The Behemoth was a wonderful specimen and opponent for this Death Match. He really had to thank his young aid for providing the little beastie. So well-trained and deadly...

Still, the fire-breath was quite the surprise. Perhaps their research into changing the physiology of certain beasts and creatures was going well? He would have to check back with his allies to see if the progress had changed. Either way, this would most certainly be wondrous. It wouldn't be fun to see them just fight against a Nevermore and a Death Stalker. Oh no, that wouldn't at all! Too unoriginal. Surprises like these were needed!

A shame he wouldn't be able to see it to the conclusion. As he checked his pocketwatch, he found his time growing short. "Ah, what a shame." he lamented. "I'd have hoped to see you shine a bit more, Your Highness...but it seems I have another appointment to attend to." As he stood up to his full height, he dusted off the dirt on his pants before he turned around. As he did so, a smile formed on his face as particles of red light danced in the air around his hand before solidifying into what appeared to be a blade. With a swift movement, it clashed with a bloody red sword, aimed to cut him down.

Sparks flew between him and his assailant before he pushed the attacker away with a shrug. They were thrown into the air, spiraling around before landing back on the ground in a crouch. Slowly, they stood back up, revealing their form in entirety. It was a woman, going by the slender physique alone: she wore a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. Over her hands were fingerless gloves, and in one hand was a naked bloody red blade, akin to that of an odachi. An object that looked to be made from feathers hanged from the right side of her skirt. She also wore detached black leggings with a red splatter pattern, and black leather boots beneath them. Her whole face was covered by a mask, vaguely resembling that of a Nevermore, with four eye-slits. Beneath them were a pair of fierce, deadly red eyes. Flowing out from beneath the mask was black hair that came down to the waist.

"I was wondering when you'd come, my dear." Ardyn chuckled, tipping his head. "Though you've come at a rather inopportune time."

The woman's glare burned with anger as she aimed the tip of her blade at him, her very form radiating killing intent. "...why have you come, Izunia?" she asked, voice cold and hoarse. There was a sharpness to it, an edge that seemed to make it as if there was a blade at Ardyn's throat. However, such an atmosphere hardly bothered the man, as he continued to smile as if his life wasn't threatened in the least. "Come to end the life of the prince?"

"Oh no, not at all..." Ardyn shook his head in amusement. "I was simply curious to see the young Prince and his friends in action. They are, after all, the next generation of Huntsmen and warriors. It would quite disappointing if they failed to reach the bar their predecessors set for them." He then turned his head a bit to watch the fight from the corner of his eye. "And from the look of things...they are not quite there yet..."

He then gave a low laugh before he craned his head to look at the masked woman. "And what about you, my lady? Why have you come here? Perhaps to finally reunite with your darling daughter? Or, perhaps..."

He didn't get far as the woman charged at him again with the intent of lopping off his head.

"I see then..." The man responded calmly as he raised his sword to parry the bloody edge. "It seems that your fury still hasn't quelled...even though it has been years." He blocked a diagonal strike and let it slide past him before he spun to deliver a horizontal stroke while she was wide open.

However, she proved to be quite agile as she bent her body down, lowering herself to where the blade hovered above her head, gliding past her while she spun around to deliver a roundhouse strike of her own. However, Ardyn proved to be just as fast as he twirled the handle around and slammed the blade into the ground, halting the katana's advance.

"Temper, temper~" Ardyn taunted her, wagging a finger. The woman scowled beneath her helmet, and delivered a kick to his chin, knocking him into the air. She then leaped up after him, ready to impale him. However, as she neared him, her eyes widened when she saw the dark grin on his face as the same red light as before danced in his hands. From below, the sword broke apart and disappeared in motes of dark red light before a new weapon formed in his hand.

A giant broadsword, with a rotating edge.

"Shit-!"

The strike came swift and fast, slamming straight into her while she was open. Her Aura suffered as the power behind the weapon pounded right into her abdomen. The rotating edge also cut straight into it. She felt the light that protected her diminishing in just that one moment before she found herself hurled back to the earth. A decently-sized crater formed underneath her, her body bouncing off. Saliva flew out of her mouth, reeling from the impact before Ardyn followed up by tossing the large sword straight down at her. The flat top of the blade, slammed straight into her, added only by the power of his throw and the force of gravity.

The woman gasped as the force of the blow tore even more of her Aura reserves, reducing it until there was barely anything left. Fortunately, though, she had enough to protect her ribs from being shattered. Through the pain, she glared at the man, who was currently next to her with his weapon in hand, through the eyeholes of her mask.

"Now, now, my dear..." Ardyn lightly scolded. "Is that any way to act? It is quite unbecoming of a lady to behave in such a barbaric manner."

"Screw..." the woman breathed, her voice laced in venom. "Y-you...!"

"No need to be so vulgar." He shook his head. He removed the blade from its position, alleviating the woman of her pain. The giant broadsword then vanished from sight, disappearing in motes of light like the previous sword in his grasp. He then gave the woman a wide smile, tipping his hat. "Well, until next time!"

Without another word to be said, he spun on his heel and walked away from the small crater.

"W-Wait...!" The woman growled, prying herself out of the earth with great effort.

Ardyn didn't spare her a glance, instead waving at her while she tried to stand, only to fall on her knees, using her weapon for support. Slowly, she got back up to her feet, and leveled a glare at him as he disappeared inside a green and black portal, vanishing without a trace.

"...Dammit."

She cursed. Her target was right there, and he slipped right through his fingers...again!

This had been going on for years now...ever since...

'No. Don't you dare think about it.' she thought to herself as she forced her body to stand back on her feet. With a swing of her blade, she created a black and red portal, not unlike the one Ardyn made himself. She gave one last glance to where the man disappeared, and then walked into the portal, which dissipated as soon as she passed through it.

All the while, unaware of the black crow watching her, observing the scene with sharp red eyes before letting out a cry and taking to the air.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Uh, Noct!" Prompto shouted as they reached what appeared to be the face of the cliff. Between them and the cliff was a large gap, and the only thing linking the two platforms together was a bridge. The twelve initiates barreled through, looking over their shoulder to see the beast still hunting them, roaring and snarling all the while. "Its gaining on us!"

"I see that, Prompto!" Noctis shouted back before he whirled around, slamming on his feet and calling on his Engine Blade. "Gladio, come on!"

The burly man nodded, eyes fierce. "On it!" As the Behemoth emerged, leaping out from the trees, Gladious charged forward, dragging his sword behind him. Letting out a roar, the large monstrosity swung its claw at him, only to be barred by his blade and parried, allowing him to swing it around in a full circle and slam it into its leg, knocking it off balance. "Prompto!"

The blonde sharpshooter was already over it, grinning as he took aim. "Hi there, opening~"

He pulled the trigger and an elemental bullet shot out of the barrel before hitting the beast's clavicle. The round exploded upon impact, eliciting a cry from the beast as its neck and shoulder were encased in a thin sheet of ice from the residual magic.

As it staggered, Jaune immediately saw an opportunity. "Nora!" he called. "Think you can give it a good thwack?"

Somehow, the dangerous smile she gave him was downright unnerving as she charged up. The Behemoth managed to recover quickly, shaking off the damage and inhaling, small flickers of flames dancing in its mouth. The group realized what was about to happen and quickly took cover behind the scattered pillars and rocks for cover. Nora, however, continued to charge forward. Just as the Behemoth was about to fire off another plume of flames to reduce the humans to ashes, she aimed her grenade launcher at her feet. "Boom!" she cheered as she was sent up into the air, thus avoiding the flames. As she flew upwards, her weapon changed into what appeared to be a giant hammer. Her grin grew wider as she descended downward, weapon overhead.

"YAZTHEE!"

As the Behemoth inclined its head to reach its target, the hammer, descent fueled by gravity and inhuman arm strength, slammed on top of its head, forcing its mouth shut. With its jaws closed abruptly, the flames had nowhere to go. The pressure built up before a blast of heat exploded from its mouth.

The hyperactive ginger used the monster's head as a springboard to propel herself away once her attack was finished.

The Behemoth then released a painful cry: a mixture of rage and pain as it shook his head, black smoke blowing out from its mouth and snout. The entire insides of its mouth were utterly charred, and several of its fangs were broken apart from the explosion. "Aw, what's the matter, big boy?" Yang taunted, smirking. "Too hot for ya?" In response, the Behemoth glared at her, and roared in rage, slamming its claw down in anger before it charged at her. Acting quickly, she used Ember Celica to bump her up in the air, avoiding the swipe of its claw that would have flatten her and delivered a few shots to its exposed backsides. Unfortunately, she was hit by its tail, knocking her out of the air. "Oof!"

"Yang!" Ruby cried in panic, seeing her flying towards the open chasm.

The brawler's eyes widened in panic. She would have used her gauntlets, but she realized too late that she was too far to get enough distance to reach the edge before she fell to the point of no return. However, she soon felt a black band wrap around her wrist, and found herself yanked back. She landed back on the ground, just shy of the edge leering over the seemingly bottomless abyss of the chasm, and looked to her side to find her partner with her weapon out. "...thanks for that." she said quietly.

The black-haired Faunus smiled thinly. "Next time." she said teasingly. "Don't be so reckless, Yang. It's bad for your health."

"What can I say? I'm a thrill seeker." Yang smirked back. "It's what I do."

"There's a difference between bravery and foolhardiness, Miss Xiao Long." Ignis admonished as he passed them, daggers in hand.

The Behemoth let out a growl as it tried to swipe the man away, only for him to nimbly slide underneath it and find himself right below it. Acting quickly, he tossed the knives at its ankles, two each striking around where the bone stuck out. Hissing in annoyance, the beast hopped back and tried to scoop the man up in its burnt mouth. Prompto, however, stopped it by using the gigantic metal contraption he used from earlier when they were launched into the Emerald Forest, firing a round off at its face and knocking it back, allowing Ignis to throw another knife at its neck.

His glasses developed a glare as he roared, "Noct!"

"On it, Iggy!"

Following his friend's command, the Crown prince of Lucis locked onto the dagger that was thrown. Focusing his power into it, Noctis warped to its location, flying through the air from the dagger's momentum. While airborne, he summoned his Engine Blade and stabbed it right into the Behemoth's neck.

He tried to dig the sword was far into the neck as possible, but the hide was incredibly thick. The Behemoth, in response, tried to shake him off, letting out a cry before the human could do any damage to it. Eventually, it threw him off, though Noctis was not done yet. His body disappeared into a burst of blue light and reappeared at the daggers thrown at the ankles of the Behemoth.

His forgotten Engine Blade, still stuck in the neck, also reappeared in his hand as he immediately went about cutting up the skin. A decently-sized gash was made in its ankle, blood spurting out before he warped to the next ankle and repeated. In an attempt to stop him, the Behemoth thrashed about wildly, stomping around as if in a tantrum.

"Hey, ugly!" Ruby shouted as she fired off a few rounds at the Behemoth, though they barely made any impact into the thick hide of the beast. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?!"

The massive beast craned its head over to the petite red girl, pure fury burning in its green and milky eyes.

Utilizing this distraction, Noctis cut through the last ankle, reminding the beast that it had someone underneath it. Roaring angrily, and having enough, it leaped back, avoiding the prince. His actions were already done as is as he warped back over to his friends. "Talk about thick skin!" Noctis growled. "Ignis, any ideas?"

"A few come to mind..." the strategist of the team replied. "Despite its hulking frame, it is quite agile. In addition it has a durable hide. However...given the state of its eyes, it seems to be blind on one side."

As the Behemoth stepped closer, growling and slowly waltzing towards them like a predator zeroing in on its prey. The group slowly edged away, weapons ready when it pounced. "So what's the plan?"

"Despite being quite durable, it doesn't have a favorable disposition to flame." Ignis noted, noticing how its mouth had been severely damaged from the result of its own flames backfiring. It was an odd phenomenon, as it lacked proper resistance to its own attack.

He was unsure why it was the case, then again, this is the first they've encountered a Behemoth capable of breathing fire. Nevertheless, this was an opportunity they could exploit. He pushed up his glasses, looking at Weiss. More specifically, her pouch. "Miss Schnee, how many Fire Dust crystals do you have on your person?"

"Quite a few. I always bring several crystals with me into combat." Weiss nodded, taking a couple of red crystals from her pouch.

Ignis nodded in approval before he took out a familiar sphere in his hand. "Noct," he turned the prince. "How many Elemental Bombs do we have on hand?"

"That depends." Noctis smirked. "We making Behemoth BBQ?"

"I've actually come up with a new recipe just now." The chef smirked in kind.

"Then we have enough for the job!"

The Behemoth, finding the moment to strike, let loose a gigantic roar and charged, releasing thunderous steps as it barreled its way toward them with the intent of ripping them apart.

Both Ignis and Noctis readied their bombs in hand and waited until the precise moment to throw them.

As the beast drew near, Ruby and Jaune looked at one another, nodding before they charged in. Weiss needed time to prep the dust crystals, and they were going to give her the time. Ruby reached the Behemoth first with her speed, darting forward with a burst of petals. Her scythe dragged along the side of its body, creating a shallow cut along the thick hide. The creature roared out as it whirled around, snarling while swishing its tail.

Jaune was nearly thrown off by it, but instead managed to use it to his advantage as he grabbed hold of it, hanging on and slowly working his way up. Feeling something on its tail, the Behemoth craned its head to find the human clinging to its tail and roared, swinging its body around. Jaune tried to hang on, but he eventually lost his grip and found himself high in the air.

"Oh craaaaaap!" he cried as he fell down once gravity got a hold of him. The Behemoth's body tensed before it leaped up with the intent of snatching him in its mouth like a dog catching a ball.

Nora and Pyrrha, however, had other ideas.

Nodding at one another, the two girls went to action. Pyrrha crouched down as Nora jumped. When the ginger fell back down on top of the Spartan's shield, she was seated on the shaft of her hammer, the face of her weapon using the shield as a platform. The moment she was on, the red haired girl jumped as Nora pulled the trigger of her weapon, propelling her high into the air and above the Behemoth. Once she reached apex height, she spun around fired off her weapon again, letting the recoil and gravity fuel her descent.

"BAAAAAATER UP!"

She swung Magnihld with all her might and the head of the hammer impacted with the side of the Behemoth's face, forcing it to crash to the ground away from Jaune.

Jaune struck the ground rear first, causing him to cry out in pain. "OW!" he yelped, rubbing his rear as he stood up. "Man...think I landed right on my scroll!" He looked up just in time to see the Behemoth growling in rage as it quickly shook off the damage, charging at him. It raised its upper body up, limb extended, with the intent of crushing him right there.

Acting quickly, he brought up his shield and braced himself for impact. The paw came down right on top of him and gritted his teeth, feeling the pressure being pounded unto him. Beneath his feet, the earth cracked. "Khrgh!" he growled before he mustered the strength and shrugged off the paw. "My turn, asshole!"

Throwing the paw off him, Jaune went on the offensive and struck with Crocea Mors. The blade made a wide arc before it dug into the Behemoth's ankle, right over the wound that Noctis made before.

The strike deepened the gash, causing more blood to leak out and cut into the tendon. The Behemoth felt strength being lost in its leg and roared in defiance, trying to swipe at the blonde, only for a blast of electricity to explode on its blindside, releasing yet another cry before it turned and found Blake and Ren shooting at it, the former prepping another Dust crystal to toss.

She gave her Fire Dust to Weiss, who was close to being ready. Meanwhile, Prompto and Gladio were heading towards it from behind, determined to keep it in one spot and prevent it from moving any further before their friends were ready to set its ass on fire. Using the distraction the two gunners were making, Gladio came up to one of the hind legs an swung its blade right at the heel.

The massive blade dug into the tough hide and pierced into the muscle. Prompto followed suit by bracing himself with the oversized cannon and fired at its other heel.

The Behemoth let out a pained cry, losing strength in its hind legs. With a furious rage, it turned around and tried to crush them, dragging its claw along the earth. They were quick to evade it, moving out of the way. However, it then realized its blindspot was exposed, evident when it felt several blasts strike away at its hide. "I!" Yang shouted, throwing shot after shot at the monster. "Hope! Your! Hun! Gry!"

The massive beast howled as kinetic energy rounds pelted it over and over again in the same spot, gradually wearing down its defenses. The fact that the attacker was in its blind side did not help either.

It eventually whirled around, kicking up dust and debris. Some of it went flying at the brawler, though she managed to blow some of it away. Pyrrha then charged in through the dust, leaping up. Switching her weapon to its spear form, she reared her arm back and threw it.

The thrown weapon flew and stabbed itself into the monster's lone, functioning eye. The Behemoth screeched louder than it ever had before, forcing the teens to cover their ears from the noise.

"Somebody shut it up!" Nora cried, clutching her ears closed. "I can't stand it! Its like somebody's dragging nails across the chalkboard back home!"

"It sounds even worse than that!" Ruby yelled in agreement. "It sounds like the songs of Yang's favorite boyband!"

"Hey!"

As the creature continued to thrash around, swiping a claw at its face and removing the spear, it shook his head, trying to shake off the pain before releasing another roar.

"Noct!" Ignis called. "Miss Schnee! On my mark!"

"Right!" Both the Prince and Heiress nodded as they readied the elemental bomb and dust crystals in hand respectively.

This time, the creature relied on sound. Hearing the three's cry, it charged right at them. "Steady!" Ignis told them, keeping their hands tamed. "Steady!" The Behemoth continued to charge, unheeding of its losing strength in its legs from the blood loss. If it was going to die, it would at least kill one of these humans. As it neared, a bead of sweat dripped down Ignis' forehead. "Steady!"

Three seconds. Two. One-!

"NOW!"

Just as the Behemoth lunged at them, they swiftly moved out of the way. Noctis and Ignis threw their bombs straight into the air, flying in an arc and ready to hit their mark while Weiss threw the myriad of dust crystals at the bridge's floor. As their bodies hit the ground, the Behemoth fell on all fours, tumbling through the bridge before coming to a stop. Growling, it tried to get back to its feet. However, none of the students were about to give it a chance.

"PROMPTO, NOW!"

"Aye aye!" Prompto shouted as he took aim with his handgun. Just as the elemental bombs came down close to the Behemoth, the blonde sharpshooter smirked. "Bye-bye~!"

He pulled the trigger. The bullet was pumped out from the chamber, shooting out from the barrel and flying right at the Dust crystals lying at the Behemoth's feet. The elemental bombs were right in front of its face now.

Then the bullet struck the Dust crystal, right as one of the bombs touched the cobblestone floor of the bridge.

The result was a cacophony of fiery explosions. Plumes of fire erupted from the bridge and swallowed the gargantuan beast whole. Furthermore, the force of the blasts compromised the age-weakened structure of the stone bridge, causing pieces to be blown off as cracks rapidly formed. In a matter of moments, all that could be heard through the blaze was the Beast's final howls of agony before the stone floor beneath it finally broke apart.

With that, a fireball was sent downwards into the chasm below, vanishing in the mist.

"...can I say a one-liner now?" Prompto asked, looking at the prince. "For reals man? Don't wanna jinx it."

Noctis shrugged as he laid down on the ground, utterly exhausted. Both from the events in the forest, running for dear life, and fighting a Behemoth. The adrenaline had finally left his body, and he was no worse for wear. "Go for it."

'Noct' another one out." Prompto grinned, laughing...only to wince as he held his ribs. "Okay...on second thought, no laughing."

"Good. Cuz that was a terrible one-liner." Gladio said as he stabbed his great sword to the ground and leaned against it.

"I don't know, I thought it was a pretty good one." Yang commented.

Ruby groaned, laying flat on the grass. "Only you would think that, Yang." she said tiredly. "Hey, Weiss? Can I go to sleep now? I hurt all over..."

"Of course not...is what I would say...but I could use a break myself..." The white haired girl nodded as she kneeled on the ground.

Nora let out a laugh. "What a bunch of wimps!" she said with a grin. "Me and Ren could take on another...cou...ple..." She trailed off as she fell to the ground. Moments later, they could hear her snoring. "Zzz..."

"...Ren?" Jaune asked his friend in exasperation. "You mind if I ask something?"

The boy sighed as he sat up. "Yes." he stated the unanswered question. "Yes she is."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Have all the students transported to the medical bay." Ozpin ordered the staff. "Their safety is our first priority. Also inform the initiates that, until further notice, Initiation will be suspended. Inform the nearest guild association of the situation. If there's another one of those things roaming around, we're going to need all the help we can get."

They didn't stick around much longer after that. They were quick to run about their business, intent with the tasks they had been assigned. However, that said, they couldn't help but feel disturbed. For as long as they have known him, Ozpin was a figure of composure. A giant of mental strength, stature and charisma. Yes, he could be odd at times, but his charm and excellent abilities could bring out the best in anyone.

To see the man lose his composure, however, was a little jarring, yet not expected. After all, no one had expected an honest-to-gods BEHEMOTH to suddenly appear.

Never before had the Emerald Forest had been home to one of these creatures native to Lucis. They usually roam around the Leide region, a vast desert surrounding the Capital of Lucis, Insomnia. To see such a monstrosity here in Vale of all places was quite alarming.

But it also begged the unasked question. Just how was a Behemoth even here?

The question was plaguing their minds, especially Ozpin's. As he sat in his office, forehead creased in disturb, he tried to think of possibilities and theories as to how such a beast could have been there. While Bartholomew and Peter had arrived late, just minutes after the students eliminated the Behemoth, he was still worried about them. This was not boding well, both for his own health and for political matters. No doubt the press or council would have a field day if they learned that a Behemoth had appeared in the Emerald Forest while so many transfer students from the Cultural Exchange program, including the crown prince himself, were present.

He let out a tired sigh. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Maybe it's about time you started drinkin', Oz." a gruff voice called from behind. Ozpin turned and found a familiar face walking toward him. It was a man with graying black, spiky hair, red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline. With a red and tattered cloak, he wore a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He also wore a ring on his right index finger, two other rings on his right fourth finger, and a necklace with a crooked cross-shaped pendant. "Stuff does wonders."

Ozpin's eyes widened slightly. "Qrow?" he asked, surprised to see the man here. "What on Remnant are you doing here? I thought you were-"

"Raven's back in town." Qrow Branwen said swiftly, causing the man's eyes to widen while Qrow's eyes narrowed sharply as he continued in a serious and grim tone. "And she was fighting Ardyn Izunia."

"WHAT?!" The calm facade of Beacon's Headmaster broke as he jumped out of his seat and slammed his palms on his desk. "Ardyn was here?! How?!"

"Probably the same way he's been popping up around Remnant for all these years." Qrow frowned. "What's more...he seemed to be keeping an eye on the King's boy during the Initiation..."

If Ozpin had been holding his mug, it probably would have dropped and shattered on the floor. Instead, his face paled and palmed it in his hand. "Dammit..." he muttered. As he slunk down in his chair, he took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. "So then...he's responsible for the Behemoth, I presume?"

"That'd be my guess." the scythe-meister said as he took out a flask, popping open the cap and chugging down some of the contents. "Even got to see him in action. I'm starting to see why the King was worried about someone like that." His eyes narrowed as he screwed the cap back on his flask, pocketing it away. "Along with the idea of Niflheim coming here."

"And I would not blame him." Ozpin nodded before he frowned, clasping his hands together. "Even now, one has to wonder...how was it that the man who hails from the same world as Regis, Counselor and advisor to Niflheim's own leader, has found himself here on Remnant?" His eyes then narrowed, staring out the window in contempt as if staring at some unknown figure. "Moreover...what does his presence bode for us?"

Qrow sighed. "Wish I knew." he said before his tone turned somber. "I'm worried about Raven, Oz. Ever since what happened, she's been hellbent on killing that fox, but at the rate she's going..."

"I know, old friend. I know..."

He, of course, knew that better than anyone. It was his mistake that led to that day all those years ago...

Even now, Raven refuses to forgive him. He could not blame her. He could not even forgive himself.

Even so, he had to bear his burdens and move on. He had to keep going, lest Remnant will fall at the hands of Salem.

And he'd be damned if he let that happen.

"...so how's Ruby?" he asked, concerned about the safety of his niece. "She okay?"

"She is alright. Merely exhausted from the intense battle. Fortunately, she and the others emerged victorious without receiving serious injuries. The worst some of them had after Aura depletion were scrapes and bruises." The Professor answered.

"I see. That's a relief."

The man let out a sigh. "Tai would have our heads if anything happened to her. Hell, I'd expect Summer to come back from the dead and hunt our asses herself." A shudder ran down his neck, remembering how she was like when they had graduated. "I'm telling you, Oz...she learned it from Raven."

"That aside." Ozpin returned to the conversation back on point. "For now, I'd like for you to keep doing what you are. Keep an ear out for any unusual activity from Queen's part."

"Gotcha." The man nodded. "I'll be sure to report in if I find anything new."

With that, the man walked away. In the meantime, Ozpin stared at the empty mug on his desk, furrowing his brow.

"...maybe Qrow is right." he muttered. "Maybe I should start drinking."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Whaaaaat?" Ruby whined. "What do you mean Initiation's been put on hold?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "After that whole debacle with the Behemoth, they want to make sure no students were seriously injured." she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "After all, I'm sure not even the Headmaster expected to have a monster like that in the Emerald Forest." She then gave the girl a small smile as she handed her a mug. "Here." she said as Ruby's eyes sparkled. "You said cream and three sugars, right?"

"Yep!" Ruby cheered as she gently took the mug into her hands, bringing it to her lips. Second later, she winced. "Hot!"

"Of course it is, you dunce." she admonished the girl. "What did you think it would be?"

"I thought it would be cool by now..." The girl whined as she fanned her tongue with her free hand and set the cup down. She and the others had been escorted from the forest and to the infirmary to patch up their injuries.

Fortunately, none of them were critically wounded. Especially after fighting a monster like a Behemoth.

While part of her was still shaken up, and quite frankly terrified, she couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment and excitement. She fought a Behemoth...a freaking BEHEMOTH! 'Ooh, I can't wait to tell dad about this!' she gushed before she turned to Weiss. "So, um..."

"What is it?" Weiss asked, crossing her legs before she narrowed a critical eye on the girl. "If this about asking me for state of the art stuff, you can forget it."

That made Ruby blink. What? Where did that come from? "I...wasn't even going to ask you about that." she said before she paused for a moment. "Unless, of course, by state of the art stuff you mean parts to spruce up my sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?"

Ruby nodded, smiling with pride. "My Crescent Rose!"

'Oh dear lord, who did I partner myself with?' Weiss thought with a feeling that she would no doubt find herself with a headache often with this girl. Even still, she was perhaps a bit interested. Most people would try and take advantage of having her for a partner. She didn't blame them, of course. You would have to be extraordinarily lucky to have the heiress to a powerful company as your partner, and perhaps even more so to have THE Pyrhha Nikos for one. She was still sore that she ended up with that blonde idiot with the black coat. Regardless, she was surprised that the girl in front of her hadn't made any attempts to do so yet.

Then again, Weiss would have to admit, she was interested in Ruby Rose herself. The girl had been quite the talk, having made the news. It wasn't everyday you learned that a fifteen-year-old girl had managed to thwart a bank robbery. Especially when said robbery was led by one Roman Torchwick, one of the biggest names in the criminal underworld. For her part, Weiss was impressed by her combat skills. She must have had an impressive teacher, and her weapon was quite a thing of beauty. Deadly, and efficient. Winter certainly approved, though she voiced her worries about a girl like that playing hero. Whitley, being the pessimist he was, merely dismissed the girl as someone living in a dream.

Naturally, as she expected, her father didn't care much. He barely had time to concern himself with such trifling matters, as business was far more important.

Her mother had no opinion of her feats either...as she was as despondent as usual.

There was one other person she believed would've appreciated and admired the actions of the young girl. However...

She winced and shook her head. She refused to allow herself to show weakness. Weakness was a sign of frailty. She was not frail. She was a Schnee. Schnee's were not frail.

At any rate, she was curious about one thing. "How did you do it?" she asked curiously. Ruby, attempting to drink her coffee again, looked up from the mug as she took a sip. It was still hot, but nowhere near as bad as before. "How'd you get into Beacon early?"

Ruby groaned, pulling her hood over her head. Weiss noted that she had done this before, back when she recognized her in Emerald Forest. "I got here because Ozpin offered me a spot." she said timidly, her thumbs twiddling around. "And I wanted to be like my parents and sister. I wanted to be like the heroes in the stories they used to tell me all about, so I accepted." She then gave another whine, pulling her hood down further. "Except now I'm like really, REALLY nervous. I mean, I just want to be normal knees, not-not the bee's knees?"

Weiss quirked an eyebrow. "...come again?"

"I-I mean...I don't want people to think I'm anything SPECIAL."

Ruby pouted. "I just...I just want to be a normal person. I don't want people to think I got here because of special treatment or something! I want them to see me as a normal girl! But it's too late since I'm here at Beacon, two years early..."

Weiss was taken aback. Most people would typically brag about this sort of thing, but Ruby? She was more worried that people would judge her for that. Soon, a smile formed on her face. "I think you'll do fine." she told her, making Ruby's face lit up. "By the way, I never asked. How do you know His Highness?"

"Oh, you mean Noct?" the silver-eyed girl giggled. "We're childhood friends. We actually met while my Uncle Qrow was visiting a friend of his in Lucis. I even got to meet Princess Luna from Tenebrae too!" She paused as she adopted a thoughtful expression. "That reminds me...I wonder if she and Noct are together yet?"

She completely missed the slack-jawed expression her partner was giving her.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, at the edge of Vale's outskirts: specifically at an old warehouse, a certain criminal was looking at a map, eyes scanning it thoroughly while looking at the assortment of Dust he had in his collection. As he stared at the plans, he leaned back and pulled out his cigar from his mouth, exhaling gray smoke. "We're gonna need more men." he decided before he turned around to see various individuals, ranging from humans in black suits to Faunus in white vests, black hoods and Grimm masks over their faces. "One of you get me in touch with Junior. I got a favor for him!" One of the grunts nodded and went to the back, going to grab the man on the phone.

Roman was sure that the info broker was going to be throwing a fuss, but he knew how to deal with it. He wasn't one of the best criminals in Vale for nothing. As he went back to look over the plans, a cold metallic voice called to him from the side.

"I hope you aren't planning on disappointing us again, Torchwick."

"FUCKING HELL!" the criminal cried as he whirled around to find the speaker.

There, sitting atop a stack of crates, was a man wearing a battered cloak with a hood covering his face, shadows obscuring most of it while the rest showed off what appeared to be a mask resembling a skull with filter canisters on the jaws, glowing pinkish-red eyes staring back at him. Beneath the cloak were white bandages, wrapped around the upper body with a black, sleeveless, skintight shirt over them. Over that was a black, mechanical chest plate. He also wore dark gray camo jeans with metal knee pads and a pair of heavy, black combat boots.

"Dammit!" Roman cursed. "Do you HAVE to do that?! Gods, you're worse than Neo!"

"It is effective in getting your attention, that's for sure." The figure replied evenly. "I just hope you will not fail in the upcoming heist like you did not too long ago. The Great criminal mastermind, Roman Torchwick, foiled and bested by a teenage girl with a giant mechanical scythe. Even now, the media continues to spew that story."

Roman growled. "Hey, I could have handled her if that damned Huntress hadn't gotten in my way!" he protested. "Speaking of which, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you supposed to help me back there?"

"And waste my time with something as boring as that?" the masked man huffed. "Not a chance. Besides...be glad it's me condescending you and not the woman who has your life on a leash."

The mobster scowled. "Don't remind me."

He REALLY didn't want to be reminded of the woman he was contracted with. If he could run away, he would. But if he did...he'd be signing his own death warrant. Shaking his head, Roman spoke again. "So why are you really here? I doubt it's just a simple social visit or reminder."

"We're moving up the plans." the masked man stated, causing Roman to quirk an eyebrow. "Get your boys ready. We move tonight."

"Okaaaay? And who exactly are we going to beat the shit out of, kill, or blow up this time?"

The figure let out a creepy chuckle, the voice modifier that made him sound menacing not helping matters whatsoever.

"The White Hoods."

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Dried Petals, Part I**


	10. Chapter 10

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, Digimon D-Code: Error of Hades, and Metastability.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **I also recommend a few stories made by another talented fanfic writer, Otaku-Nation666: Warning Letter, Highschool DxD: Destiny's Play, RWBY Riders: Spirits of Legend, Deadly Sin of the Spriggan, RWBY: Within Enlightened Hearts, Tokyo Ghoul: Wishes of an Eyepatch, Fabulae Parcae, RWBY –Apocrypha-, Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Apocalypse, Fate: Horizons, and Hellbent Ghost of the Rebellion.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter IV: Dried Petals, Part I**

The morning had come early for Initiates. At long last, much to the joy of many - especially a certain red reaper - the results could now be made official. All students and faculty gathered in the large room that would be used for combat class in the coming days. Many students came and went already, established into teams while some were, unfortunately, sent home due to their low scores. However, among the majority of students were the transfers apart of the Cultural Exchange Program, though it was hardly a surprise. These people had ambitions to join either the Crownsguard or the Kingsglaive with the added bonus of their Huntsman license. A certain group of Lucians, none other than the Prince and his entourage, stood in the back as each team was called.

"Russell Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark. You four retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will be working as team CRDL (Cardinal). Led by, Cardin Winchester." the crowd applauded as the newly appointed team stood proud.

The headmaster turned to the next team as they stood ready. "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrah Nykos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team JNPR (Juniper). Led by, Jaune Arc."

Jaune paled when he heard the man, "Huh?...led by?" he asked while the team congratulated him. Ozpin nodded, "Congratulations, young man." Jaune was still left in utter surprise, though fell out of it when Pyrrha playfully punched his arm. Nora then rushed up and patted him on the back while Ren gave an assuring pat on the shoulder. Eventually, the blonde knight smiled, resigning himself to his new position, and walked away with pride in his chest.

Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss came next. "Next we have Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will be working together as team RWBY (Ruby). Led by, Ruby Rose."

Weiss' eyes went wide with disbelief, looking at Ruby. The girl, herself, was left utterly star-struck and could hardly believe what she just heard. Blake, for her part, wasn't really concerned as she seemed to hold some respect towards Ruby, giving her a nod of congratulations. Yang, however, was boisterous as she rushed up and wrapped her adorable sister in a hug. "Ooh, I'm so proud of you!"

Ozpin chuckled as the four walked off the stage. Truly, they were the spitting image of Team STRQ in their youth. That alone made him steel himself for the antics those four would no doubt find themselves in. However, there was still one more matter to attend to. A matter that everyone was waiting for as Noctis, Prompto, Ignis and Gladio walked into the stage, hands held behind their backs.

The Headmaster of Beacon hid a small smile. If only King Regis could see his son now...

"Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum, Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia. The four of you are participants in Remnant's Cultural Exchange Program and have voluntarily participated in this year's Initiation. As such, you have retrieved the Crystal King piece. From this day forward you shall work together as Team LAPI (Lapis). Led by, Noctis Lucis Caelum."

In response, many rose to applause. Especially the Lucian transfer students. Among the applause was the newly named Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin nodded.

"Thank you, Headmaster." Nocits bowed respectfully. Prompto congratulated his friend by slinging and arm around his shoulder while Gladio ruffled the prince's hair.

"Wha-hey! Knock it off you guys!"

Prompto cackled. "Knew you had it in ya, Noct!"

Ignis chuckled as he patted the prince on the back. "Was there any doubt who would be leader?"

"Just don't let it go to your head," Gladio said jokingly as Noctis batted his hand away in annoyance. "Okay, Noct?"

Ozpin chuckled lightly as the four walked off. With this, Initiation was now officially over. The teams were made, and their futures here were set. Now, all that was left was to prepare for the present.

"This will surely turn out to be an interesting year."

XXXXXXXXXX

Out of all the things Ruby expected to happen...becoming the leader of her own team was NOT one of them.

As if the start of her year at Beacon couldn't get any worse. Not only did she skip two years ahead of everyone else, but she was the leader of her own team?! Why?! Why her?! Why couldn't she just be a normal girl with normal knees?! Was that seriously too much to ask?!

She was currently sulking in the corner of their new dorm room, hood pulled over her face, staring off into space as she reflected the events that took place within the past 72 hours.

"...okay, Ruby." Yang said as she watched her sister sulk with a deadpan expression, unsure of what to do. Glynda had brought them to their dorm rooms to unpack while allowing them free reign for the day in order to explore the campus and get familiar with the layout for tomorrow's classes. "Seriously, this is creeping me out. Especially the dark cloud over your head. What's the matter?"

"If I had to guess," Blake chimed from her side of the room, slipping books into their bookshelf. "It's because she was named leader."

"Oh..." The blonde brawler murmured. That explained a lot. Not only was she here a couple years ahead of everyone else...but made team leader on top of that? It must've been too much for her.

And it would seem Weiss shared her sentiments.

"Is this even really okay?" she expressed with some concern. In truth, she held high hopes that she would be named leader, so it came as quite the shock that her partner was named leader instead. She should have been angry, if not frustrated with the decision, but Ruby's current state had lessened the feeling. If anything, she was more worried for the younger girl. "She is two years ahead of everyone...and being a Leader isn't exactly an easy job."

"It isn't." Blake shook her head as she finished shelving the last of her books. "It's a duty one has to uphold constantly. A badge to be born even outside of battle. To set an example for one's team and how others would see them as a whole."

"...you sound as if you speak from experience." The heiress stated in slight surprise.

"Not directly. I learned that was the way things are not only on a team of Huntsmen, but for the Kingsglaive as well."

Yang blinked, looking at her partner in curiosity. "Wait...Blake, are you with the Glaive too?"

"Yes, actually." she answered, much to the shock of the two. As proof, she took out the black and silver coat that many of the Kingsglaive wore, along with the silver mask attached to the hood.

"I don't wear this often because I'm not one to flaunt the status that comes with it." She added. "Nor for the attention it brings."

She then leveled a mild glare at the two, crossing her arms. "Now, are you simply going to stand there and gawk? Or are you going to help unpack?"

Snapping out of their stupors, the two females complied and unpacked their belongings from their luggage. Yang brought out a few posters of her favorite boy bands and taped them to the walls. Weiss, on the other hand, unloaded several cases of Dust and a painting of a scenic view of nature.

Meanwhile, Blake continued to fill the bookshelf with her own personal effects. One of the books she pulled out, however, caused her eyes to go wide as she looked around, hoping nobody would see and gently slid the book into its place in the shelf.

Ruby, meanwhile, was still left in shock, oblivious to what was happening around her.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Noct?"

"Yeah, Prompto?"

"I think I'm in love..."

Noctis gave the blonde photographer a flat stare. "You mean with Velvet? Or her camera?"

"Yes..." He replied in a lovestruck trance.

After the ceremony, professor Ozpin led the newly formed Team LAPI to meet the team chaperoning them during their first few months in Vale.

It was a second-year team, comprised of two boys and girls.

Its leader was Coco Adel. She was a teenage girl with fair skin, short dark-brown hair, and dark-brown eyes. She had wavy locks on one side of her face, dyed with a gradient that started in dark brown and transitioned to caramel. Her clothes consisted of a long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher. She wore long, dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side and a brown belt with bullets. Above it, she wore another cocoa-colored belt of bullets with a gold crosshairs buckle. What appeared to be a drape of black skirt hung on her right side. She also wore a pair of dark brown, high-heeled leather boots with buckles. To complete the look of a fashionista, she had on a number of accessories, such a bracelet with black roses as decoration, which were accompanied by black gloves and necklaces. She wore a beret of a darker brown and a pair of black, wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses.

Next was Fox Alistair, her partner. He was a young man with dark skin and dark, messy copper hair that had a long fringe and a cowlick. He wore a sleeveless, muted orange zipper vest with black lining and a high collar, a pair of black jeans, and brown, laced shoes. Strangely, his eyes were pure white, perhaps a sign that he is blind, though no one knows. His arms were covered in scars, and had a vertical scar on his lips. He also wore a pair of long black gloves and had several pouches attached to his belt. He was arguably the quietest one in the group, next to the fourth member.

Third was Velvet Scarlatina, the team's resident Faunus. A small girl with long, brown hair and brown eyes with a pair of long, brown rabbit ears atop her head, signifying her status. While she was normally found in her school clothes, her combat gear was comprised by a short, long-sleeved brown jacket with a golden zipper, brown pants and black leggings with golden detail. She wore a black, semi-translucent undershirt beneath her jacket, along with golden spaulders and vambraces on both arms, as well as a similar belt. The tops of her leggings were edged with a similar band, and her heel and toe were likewise protected.

Lastly was Velvet's partner, Yatsuhashi Daichi. A massive man who said little, much like Fox, he was tall and athletic, having shaved-short black hair and tanned skin, wearing mostly pale-green and brown attire. He had a long short-sleeved robe, which he wore on one shoulder over a black muscle shirt. The robe was fastened at the waist by a leather armored belt with two pouches on it. He also wore brown pants and black-and-green boots. His left arm bore a 5-layer sode which extended up past his shoulder. His weapon was affixed to his back with a padded brown strap slung over his shoulder. He also wore a pair of bracers as well as a pair of black gloves with green plates on the backs.

Together, they were Team CFVY (Coffee). The team assigned to chaperone them.

...and the team Prompto found himself star-struck, primarily over Velvet. Of course, whether it was her looks or her camera, no one could tell.

"Down boy..." Gladio rested hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Don't you already have a crush on Cindy?"

Prompto was snapped out of his stupor as he shook his head. "T-that's something completely different!" he said, face flushed. "A-and you can't prove that!"

"Prompto," Noctis deadpanned. "Even Cid knows you have the hots for his granddaughter. I think that should tell you something."

"Wh-what?! Seriously?!" Was it really that obvious?

"Indeed." Ignis threw in his two cents.

The gunslinger of the team bowed his head in depression. Shaking his head, Noctis then approached Team CFVY, who waited patiently for them. The leader, Coco, smiled as she walked up. "So, you're the prince, eh?" she asked as she held out a hand. "Nice to meet you. Name's Coco Adel."

"Pleasure to meet you." Noctis returned the gesture, wrapping his hand around hers.

"Nice grip you got there." The team leader grinned as they shook. "Must be quite the fighter."

The prince shrugged. "Let's just say me and my friends had a hell of a tutor and leave it at that." he said, releasing his grip and slipping his hands in his pockets. "Looks like we'll be in your care for the time being."

"Seems like it." Coco nodded. "Looking forward to it. By the way..." She pulled down her shades, showing off a skeptical look. "That blondie over there...there a reason he's looking at Bun-Bun that way?"

'Bun-Bun?' Noctis felt a question mark dance above his head. It must have been because she was a rabbit Faunus, if the ears were any indication. "Between you and me, I think he's either A) lovestruck, or B) in love with her camera." Coco quirked an eyebrow. "Trust me. You'll understand once you get to know us more."

"Gotcha..." The leader of CFVY nodded before she gave him a warning look.

"Just be sure to let him know...if he hurts her in any way...he'll be answering to me." A brief pause, then a smirk. "If not me, then her boyfriend."

"Her boyfriend?"

"COCO!" Velvet cried in indignation. She was able to keep up with the conversation, thanks to her ears and their impressive hearing. Thus, when Coco mentioned her friend, her face turned scarlet. "HE-HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"

Coco rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Bun-Bun."

"So...what was that about?" The Prince asked.

"Oh, she has a pen pal she trades messages with every now and then. It's a boy, mind you, so naturally-"

Steam blew out of Velvet's ears, her face growing redder by the minute. "E-enough!" she said, trying to end the conversation. "A-aren't we supposed to show His Highness and his team around?!"

"Alright, alright..." Coco relented but grinned nonetheless. "Well, time's a wasting boys. Let us show you around."

With that, Team CFVY went on ahead. LAPI followed closely, traversing the great halls of Beacon. As they did so, Gladio leaned in. "She's a real live wire, isn't she?"

"Seems like," Ignis commented. "However, do take care. These are our seniors."

"Correction: Prompto and Noct's seniors." the burly man stated. "And if you want to get technical, we're the seniors."

"In Lucis." Ignis countered. "I'm sure things work differently here in Beacon. Meanwhile, Your Highness, I suggest you prepare for tomorrow's classes." He adjusted his spectacles and leveled a small glare at the prince. "And please...try not to fall asleep."

Noctis groaned. "What are you, my mother?"

"No. But someone needs to fill the role and keep you on your toes. It would be unbecoming of the next King to act unprofessionally." He reminded.

Prompto and Gladio snickered at the scolding while the prince gave a light scowl, shaking his head.

XXXXXXXXXX

"There!" Jaune announced with a pant as he stood up, wiping the sweat off of his brow. "Done!"

The blonde Knight had finally finished unpacking and setting up his corner of the room. While he brought a fair number of supplies from home, his sisters and mother saw to it that he needed some additional items as well.

However, it paled in comparison to the sheer number of items that Nora had brought with her.

While Jaune could understand the maintenance tools, ammunition, and Dust the girl brought with her, he was confused by how many pancake related items she unpacked. And quite strangely, sitting on top of her pile was a small, worn, wooden hammer.

In contrast, however, Ren had a handful of valuables. A few photographs of what he assumed was his family, personal items, and a small dagger.

Pyrrha, on the other hand...

"That's not much." he remarked, looking at her pile, if it could be called that. "Didn't you bring anything of sentimental value with you from Mistral, Pyrrha?"

The red-haired girl shook her head, smiling. "Not really. Truth be told, there wasn't much to bring home."

"Really? Why? I mean...won't you get homesick?" Nora questioned curiously.

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "Not quite." Pyrrha answered, his smile a bit sad. "My family and I...we weren't very close to begin with. That, and they disapproved of my coming here to Beacon."

"What? Why?" Jaune asked in concern. Her parents disapproved her decision? Why was that?

Ren adopted a curious look himself as he set down the last of the photographs on the desk they would be using. "Do your parents, perhaps, follow the old Mistralian traditions?" he asked, earning confused looks from Nora and Jaune. He then took the chance to explain. "Back before the Great War, many families followed strict rules with their children. Implementing customs, following old traditions, that sort of stuff."

"That's right." Pyrrha nodded. "My family followed the old ways. Additionally, they were weary of me being influenced by Lucians." At this, her face turned somber. "As much as I hate to admit it, my family strongly agreed with the Anti-Lucian Federation, albeit for another reason. They thought that relying on another kingdom would make them seem weak and foolish. They intended to home-school me, since Haven was also taking part in the Cultural Exchange program, but I insisted."

Jaune frowned deeply, crossing his arms. "Seriously?" he asked in confusion. "Why would they think that? Lucis has helped the Kingdoms in a lot of ways. I mean, take a look at Menagerie! Barely a third of the place was habitable, but after they came, almost the entire island turned into a settlement and center of trade."

"And don't forget the Intercontinental roadways." Ren added. "Thanks to that, travel between kingdoms has increased on top of trade."

"Trust me, they are well aware of that." Pyrrha sighed in sadness. "However, they're stubborn to a fault. My uncle has always disagreed with them. That's why he decided to train me himself." A smile of fond remembrance spread across her face. "If there was ever a reason I was able to win those tournaments, it was thanks to his tutelage."

The blonde blinked. "...tournaments?"

It was at that point Pyrrha realized she let something slip. As she recalled, Jaune was unaware of her previous victories at Mistral's Regional tournaments and hoped to keep it that way. She didn't want him to treat her like a celebrity not after she finally made her first friend in years.

"Oh, that's..." How could she phrase this...? "Well, you see..."

Thankfully, a knock came to the door. She silently prayed whoever saved her before she went up. "I'll get it!" she said before Jaune could say anything. Walking over, she opened the door. To her surprise, it was Weiss. "Weiss? What're you doing here?"

"We need your help." she stressed. "Ruby has been shell-shocked ever since she was made leader, and to be frank, it is WEIRDING. US. OUT."

"Weirding you out?" The red head inquired. "How exactly?"

"Just follow me...you'll see for yourself."

The members of JNPR looked at one another, confused but they eventually shrugged and followed her.

XXXXXXXXXX

Elsewhere, South of the Kingdom of Lucis - more specifically, the Duscae region - many countries and territories were established as the Kingdom of Tenebrae. In the past, in the world of Eos, it was located Northwest of the Dusae Region, accessible only through the mountain range via train. In the years that followed after Sylvia brought Lucis to Remnant with the King's power, the woman had certainly been busy. After all, controlling a country was not easy. However, it was also hard for her given that her health had been failing. In recent years, she was bound to a bed. Her once golden hair was now growing old and gray, falling down to her shoulders as her cheeks sunk into her bones.

Part of her wondered if this was because of how much power she used. Another part of her wondered if she and Regis somehow switched roles - she was the one who's power was making her grow old and the king was the one who got to stay young.

"Mother?" a male voice called. "Are you awake?"

The aging queen turned her head to find two individuals entering the room - siblings.

The male was young, around his mid to late twenties, with an imposing physical build. His pale-blonde hair was long, reaching down to the nape of his neck and swept backward. His storm-gray eyes were lit with concern. His facial features were angular, with his cheeks somewhat hollow. He was garbed in a white frock with black lining with a large collar with a silver trim. Around his waist were two, intersecting belts. Sheathed at his waist was a saber. A large crest depicting a unicorn representing the symbol of Tenebrae was found on the hem and sleeves of his coat. He also wore a pair of black pants and armored boots.

The one next to him was a beautiful young woman, around her early twenties. She resembled a splitting image of Queen Sylvia in her youth. She had long blonde hair styled in side-swept bangs with a double braid headband and the rest twisted and pinned up. Her eyes were just as blue as her mother's. She was dressed in a casual knee-length white dress with a single lace sleeve. Around said sleeve was a black band with an intricate design and studs. A metal patch of Tenebrae's insignia was located over her chest. She also wore a pair of high-heeled sandals.

These two were Ravus Nox Fleuret and Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. The eldest son and daughter of the Queen of Tenebrae respectively.

The woman smiled thinly. "Oh...Ravus," she greeted kindly. "Luna. What brings you here?"

"We came to see how you were doing." Luna said as she smiled, approaching the bedside. "How are you feeling?"

"I have been faring better these days...much more so than when we first arrived in Remnant." The Queen smiled. Due to the amount of power she used in accordance to the Astral's will in bringing Lucis to Remnant, the Queen fell into a deep sleep for some time to recuperate. However, even when she awoke, she continued to feel fatigue on a daily basis. In later years, her aging has progressed more rapidly, similar to how King Regis aged from maintaining the Wall in the past.

She and Regis realized that this was a price they paid in relocating Lucis to safety. A price she accepted.

Although, she would admit, that due to her weakened state, it was a tad difficult in bringing in her youngest daughter into the world. Fortunately, she survived.

Speaking of her youngest daughter...

"Where is Stella?" she asked, noticing the girl's lack of presence. "Is she not with you?"

Ravus shook his head. "She's busy practicing with miss Crowe." he informed. "She did say she would come by and visit soon."

"I see. That is good to hear." She smiled. "Are the two of you doing well, I hope?"

Luna nodded. "Yes. Actually, Noctis just messaged me not too long ago. He and his entourage are now Team LAPI of Beacon Academy." A wide smile spread across her face. "He also told me he reunited with Ruby and Yang as well."

"Those were the two girls you met as children, right?" Sylvia asked, earning a nod. "I trust they're doing well as well?"

"Yes, they are. Actually, Ruby was named the leader of her own team as well."

Ravus rolled his eyes. "A strange decision, letting a 15-year-old girl be a leader." he said in disapproval. "Though far be it from me to question Ozpin's decision."

"Oh, please brother." Luna rolled her eyes, grinning. "If you were in his position, you'd make Stella a team leader in a heartbeat."

"Don't be ridiculous." The Commander of the Tenebrae army crossed his arms and turned his head. "I wouldn't elect Stella as team leader as simple as that. She has to prove herself that she is suitable for the role."

Luna and Syliva gave him a dry look. In unison, they said, "You doting on her massively says otherwise."

"Grk!" The man flinched as the harsh truth stabbed into him.

While he would hate to admit it...they were right on the money. Ever since she was born, he had done nothing but dote on her. If he got the chance, he'd spoil her rotten. Whether they chalked it up to him being a brother or something else was up for debate, but regardless, one worried that she may grew to be of the spoiled brat variety. That couldn't be farther from the truth, however. Stella grew to be an impressive young woman. Yes, she was 16, barely a year older than Ruby, but she was more than capable of holding her own in a fight. Strong, beautiful - in a way, not too different from Luna herself.

Her combat prowess flourished even more under the tutelage of some of the members of the Kingsglaive, particularly with Crowe. They discovered that she had an aptitude for magic, which she incorporated into her swordsmanship.

If she wished, she could join the Kingsglaive. However, she chose to pursue another path. She wanted to attend Beacon Academy, which wouldn't be until next year.

And of course...the reason was so horribly obvious.

"Well, that aside..." Sylvia smiled. "What about you, Ravus? Serving alongside Cor Leonis is no easy task."

"It is nothing I can't handle, mother." Ravus shook his head, recovering from the verbal jab. "However, I must admit that the participants of the Cultural Exchange Program are rather...eccentric and eager to explore Lucis."

"Don't tell me they are too much for the Commander of the Tenebrae Army..." Luna giggled.

The elder Fleuret sibling rolled his eyes. "Hardly." he responded with a hint of arrogance. "If anything, I'm the one causing them trouble. Still, I can understand the excitement. After all, it isn't everyday the neighboring kingdoms can participate in our events." A pause, then a small bout of laughter. "That, and they're excited for the upcoming Assassin's Festival."

"Eh?" Luna tilted her head. "But that isn't for several more months."

"Try telling them that."

Sylvia smiled softly, bowing her head. "You both do wonders for this old woman." she said softly. Their gazes became tender as they clasped hands with their mother. Though there was definitely more time left for her in this world, they still feared it. The day when she, too, must leave them. "Luna...do you still train for the day when you must take up this burden?"

Luna nodded strongly. "Yes, mother." she said in a gentle voice. "I haven't forgotten my duties."

"I know it must pain you, Ravus." Sylvia spoke with forlorn. "However..."

Ravus shook his head. "My sister and I have both made our decisions." he said, tone steely. "And we...we will see them through to the end."

"Good." Sylvia smiled a final time before she closed her eyes. Soon after, soft breaths could be heard.

The two siblings released their hold on their mother's hand, and proceeded to leave the room, shutting the door behind them as quietly as possible. "She's gotten much better." Luna spoke with slight hope. "When she used so much power to bring Lucis to Remnant, the toll.." She shut her eyes, clasping her hands together tightly. "I couldn't stand it, brother...watching our mother grow older and older by the day."

Ravus, smoothly, caressed his sister's cheek. "The worst of it is over, Lunafreya." he said as softly as he could. "For now, let's wait. Soon, she'll be back up on her feet in no time." He cracked a small grin as Luna looked up at him, making it as best as he could. Truth be told, it was hard at times for him to smile. For the sake of his sisters, however, he'd make the best smile he could put on. "She's a stubborn old ox that way."

"Thank you, Ravus..." The girl nodded in gratitude. She was deeply worried about the future. But if her family and friends were there for her like this to support her...then she would happily accept what the future would hold for them.

She just hoped that the worst would not come to pass.

XXXXXXXXXX

"...wow, she is really out of it."

"You think I can wake her up if I break her legs?"

"No, Nora. You can't."

"Aww..."

"Actually, I might be able to snap her out of it."

"You can? How?! I couldn't snap her out of it no matter what I did!"

"My sister's done this before. Gotta ask, though. What's her favorite food?"

"Cookies. Why?"

"Hey, Ruby!" Jaune called. "If you don't get off your lazy butt, Yang'll eat the last cookie!"

"NO! THAT COOKIE'S MINE!" The red hooded girl snapped in a frenzy as she sprang from her spot on the floor.

Seconds later, she pounced on the nearest blonde. In this case, it was Yang, who was tacked to the floor.

The others watched with stunned looks as Ruby tried to grab an imaginary cooky from Yang's hand while the brawler in question tried to pry the demented little red reaper off of her. They then looked at Jaune with large eyes. "What?" he asked, utterly innocent. "Like I said, my sister did this all the time."

"...Just what kind of sisters do you have?" Weiss questioned the blonde in disbelief.

"Seven of them." Jaune replied nonchalantly. "And they're pretty much as crazy as you'd expect."

Blake gawked. "Seven?" she asked, earning a nod. "Good lord...how did your mom handle that many?"

"I've been asking my parents that question all of my life." Jaune replied. Just then, Yang finally managed to knock some sense into Ruby with a karate chop to the head, causing the girl to let out a cry of pain as she held her head, cradling it while Yang gently pushed her off.

"Ow...what was that for?!" Ruby whined as she held her head, rubbing the spot where she was struck before she gave Yang a mock glare. "That really hurt!"

"We've been trying to get you to snap out of it for the past hour." Her sister replied. "And it worked...when you were attacking me."

"...oh." Ruby said quietly.

"So...now that we got your attention...mind telling us what's been bothering you?"

The silver-eyed girl moaned as she pulled her hood over her head. "What do you think?" she asked rhetorically. "Ozpin just named me a team leader. W-what does that mean?"

"It means that Weiss, Blake and Yang are your underlings and you get to order them to do whatever you want!" Nora quipped with a grin. In response, the three aforementioned girls leveled a glare at the hyperactive ginger. Seeing this, she cocked her head. "What? What did I say?"

"B-but I don't know how to be a leader!" the girl whined. "I'm two years ahead of the guys back at Signal because I stopped Torchwick from robbing a Dust shop, not because I'm some genius prodigy! I don't know the first thing how to lead someone! The closest experience I've got is just me, Eins and Zwei teaming up to take down dad!"

Everyone stared at her with a neutral expression. "Hey, don't underestimate the dog." Yang said seriously. "He's cute and cuddly, but when he comes throttling at you, he hits like a truck. I speak from experience here. And the Chocobo REALLY likes to kick people."

"...dogs and Chocobos aside," Jaune sweatdropped. "I think it's natural you feel that way, Ruby. I mean, hey. I'm not exactly leader material either." He gestured to his whole being. "Do I look like a leader? No, I don't. But we don't know unless you try."

Ruby still didn't look up. "A-and what if I do mess up?"

"Then you have us to rely on." Blake answered, crouching down and placing a hand on the girl's head. "There's a reason why Ozpin put us on a team."

"B-But..."

"Ruby, a leader doesn't have to bear the burden alone. That is why they have team mates to back them up. I case one stumbles, the others will be there to support them."

Weiss nodded, smiling. "Exactly." she said, pleased with Blake's answer. "So, whether we like it or not, you're technically stuck with us." She bent down and offered a hand. "Now, come on. Get up. Should a leader really be sitting on the floor like that?"

"No..." the petite girl grabbed the and Weiss hoisted her up on her feet. She felt a bit better now. Granted, she was still nervous, but not as nervous as before.

XXXXXXXXXX

Night had arrived quickly. For one Roman Torchwick, it was just another day at the office while under Cinder Fall's employ alongside her conspirator...if one could really call him that. The tension was obvious to see, though he felt a great satisfaction every time the guy got under her skin. Right now, though, there was a job to be done. The White Fang was more than happy to rally in arms once they heard who they were targeting. He understood why. The White Hoods had been the source of their grief for the longest time. Even though the situation had lessened quite a bit once Lucis came into the picture, they never stopped believing that humans were far superior to mere animals. They also didn't take kindly to Lucis interfering with their work, leading to some cooperation between them and the Anti-Lucian Federation.

If he was being honest, Roman couldn't care less about this whole Lucis business. New kingdom popping up out of nowhere? New shit, same day. Yes, there had been a lot of changes since then, but some things stay the same. For example, street rats doing whatever it took to get by.

And there was no greater street rat, especially one who had a lot of leeway in the criminal underworld, than this mafiaso.

"So." Roman began as he looked at his partner. He made sure to stand a good distance away from him, as the guy definitely creeped him out. Miles better company than Cinder, but creepy nonetheless. "How, exactly, do you propose we attack a bunch of assholes who are pretty much as fortified as the biggest Altesian Vault in the whole damn Kingdom?"

He gestured to one of the White Hood's camps. It was large, and as he said, heavily guarded. Freighters, spotlights, watch towers, snipers, turrets...they were heavily armed. And there several men running along. Like the Fang, they all wore signature attire: a white coat with torn sleeves and bracers along the wrists, hoods pulled over their heads, and a face mask covering the lower half of the face.

And each and every one of these bastards was armed to the teeth.

...and yet none of it even so much as fazed the masked man.

He remained standing calmly as he analytically scanned the White Hood base camp, searching for weak points and areas of possible exploitation. As he did so, Roman took a swift drag of his cigar. "You know, I also gotta ask something." he said, looking at the man. "Why are we attacking the Hoods? I mean, last I checked, weren't you working for the Alfs? And, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't the Alfs and Hoods supposed to be best buds?"

"Hmph." the masked man scoffed. "The Anti-Lucian Federation is my ally in name only. Our interests align...but their ideals mean nothing. As for the White Hoods...it isn't so much as an attack."

The mafiaso raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it supposed to be?"

"Simply put, Roman?" He pulled out a device from his pants pocket, revealing it to be a remote. "A message."

With the push of a button, an explosion erupted at the very back of the encampment.

The intitial explosion set off a chain reaction of additional explosions around the encampment, soon swallowing the entire base in a sea of flames. It set off mass panic amongst the White Hood members as they scrambled for cover and set out to locate the source of the attack.

By then, already 40% of their forces have been killed.

As the Hoods scattered to try and find the cause, Roman whistled. "Not bad." he said in approval before he turned to the masked man, who began to walk away. "So, what next?"

"Now." the man said. "We give them a greeting."

"Gotcha..." the mobster nodded as he held up a communicator to his mouth. "You heard the man ladies and gents...time to say hello!"

A chorus of cheers erupted on the other end. The Fang was quick to mobilize. Weapons primed. Swords ready. Anger blazing.

It was amazing what rage towards the greatest Faunus haters in the world could do. And Roman had the front row seat. As he headed out himself, knowing that he would be expected to participate lest he end up on the receiving end of a very bad day, he couldn't help but grin.

"Time to see what the feared Plague can do~"

"Gladly..." the hooded figure, now known as Plague, responded monotonously. A hiss of steam escaped through the small gaps around the mouth of his skeletal mask. From his back, he unholstered a modified sniper rifle.

It had several bolt holes that pass through the mechanisms, a highly-advanced grip that had a thumb handle and a polished dark-gray body with lines running across from the grip. One of the unique aspects of the weapon was the suppressor it had on the muzzle. Another was the series of piston-like protrusions located along the underside of the body. The final was the secondary rod located beneath the barrel.

As the Fang was ready to move out, he positioned himself along a series of trees, readying his rifle. He viewed the camp through the scope positioned at the top, searching for the enemy commander.

Finally, he found him. While the man was garbed in the attire of the Hoods, there were modifications made to his uniform to represent his superiority. His mask covered the upper half of his face instead of the lower half, revealing a slightly pudgy form and jowls. The lapels of his coat were adorned with several medals. But the biggest modification was the variety of animal parts: ears, patches of scales, and tails on chains hanging off his waist like some kind of accessories.

Plague had no visible reaction to seeing said animal parts, likely severed from random Faunus they terrorized. The expression underneath his mask was a different story. He silently aimed his rifle until the crosshairs aligned with the man's throat. He flipped a switch on the grip, setting his firearm to utilize a specific type of ammunition.

He looked at the time displayed on his watch.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

The White Fang mobilized, at last, taking off in jeeps with weapons at the ready. Some of the more hardcore ones took off in a Bulkhead, primed and ready to obliterate the people who caused them so much pain.

"Seven, six, five..."

Roman smirked as he hopped on top of a jeep bed, taking out his trusty cane.

"Four, three..."

Slowly, Plague began to squeeze the trigger.

"Two, one..." His eyes burned underneath the mask. Slowly, a demented grin formed on his lips. "...zero."

He pulled the trigger.

Thanks to the suppressor, the bullet shot out of the barrel silently. It tore through the air as fast as a bolt of lightning. The small crackles of electricity barely visible along the projectile's surface also enhanced the comparison. In a matter of a second, the sniper round hit its mark, piercing through the Hood commander's throat and releasing the electricity stored within.

By the time someone noticed their commander convulsing on the ground due to a large amount of voltage frying his body, the assault had already begun.

And Plague was going to enjoy every last second of it.

A puff of steam exhaled from his mask as his red eyes glowed eerily. "...It's showtime..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Monsters... Predators... Deeeeeeeemons! Yes, there are many names the Creatures of Grimm go by, but I like to call them... Prey!"

A portly man dressed in a dark red suit grinned beneath his gray, bushy mustache. This man was Professor Port. He was assigned as their instructor about the Creatures of Grimm. At least, that was his job, but the portly man had instead decided to run his mouth off about his achievements.

The others were bored out of their minds, with Ruby close to falling asleep, and Weiss, despite finding the lecture to be incredibly boring, listened intently, as her upbringing demanded. Yang had chosen to goof off, secretly messing around with her scroll while Blake was more focused reading the textbook (though unknown to anyone, hidden behind the pages of the textbook was her own novel).

In the back, Jaune and Nora were finding it difficult to try and stay awake. The blonde persevered by repeatedly pinching himself while Nora long since gave up, falling asleep in her arms. Ren and Pyrrha seemed to be among the few who were actually paying any attention whatsoever as they took notes and reading the section in the textbook listed on the whiteboard. If the section was printed there, obviously Professor Port wanted to get there. They simply took the initiative.

Because at the rate the class was progressing, they would run out of time without much progress on the content. It seemed like he was going to drone on and on about his stories.

Had Noctis and his team been here, there would have been no doubt that the prince and Prompto would have fallen asleep through the lecture.

"And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" Port continued, momentarily giving a glare at Ruby, who he had caught napping. Jaune was honestly feeling ready to clock out any second himself. "Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..."

He paused, giving a wink at Yang, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

At this, one student stood up and let out a yell of agreement. The class turned to give him the strangest looks, thus causing him to sit back down.

Afterward, the class continued on with Port rambling his past exploits involving a Beowulf and his trust axe.

Weiss, however, was quickly beginning to rescind her opinions of her leader. Though while she also found it hard to actually find any real meaning in his adventures, she was at least making the effort. Ruby, however, was goofing around. Trying to balance her pencil atop her nose, making a doodle of Professor Port, even picking her nose for Dust's sake...! After the talk they gave her last night, didn't she remember any of it?! 'No, calm down, Weiss.' she chided, trying to restrain herself. She needed to remember that Ruby was still technically a kid. She admitted so herself. 'She just...needs more time...endure it...restrain yourself...don't yell at her...!'

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss was about to raise her hand, hoping that she could teach Ruby a thing or two-

"OW!"

-when she suddenly let out a yelp, her hand moving to cradle the back of her head. Surprised by the cry, she and Yang looked to find her rubbing it, face cringed with pain. Behind them were snickers. Craning her head, she found a member from Team CRDL struggling to hold in their laughter while leering at Ruby.

Her frustration quickly became anger at the snickering male. Did he really just throw something at Ruby? How dare he?

"Ah, Miss Rose!" Port boomed with pleasure. "Glad to see you're finally taking part in my class!"

At this, Sky Larke's snickering grew bolder, further increasing Weiss' rage. Yang, for her part, was quick to catch on what happened and growled. "Asshole." she scoffed before she patted Ruby on the back. "Well, can't back out now. Go get 'em tiger."

"O-oh, right!"

Nervously, the girl stood up and made her way down the steps and toward the locker rooms to change into her combat gear.

A few minutes later, she came out in her familiar black attire, and Crescent Rose already transformed.

She stood at attention in the middle of the ground floor that made up the arena of the upcoming fight. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"Are you ready, Miss Rose?"

"Yes sir." She nodded curtly.

The portly man practically beamed as he readied his axe, aiming for the lock on the cage.

At this point in time, Jaune blinked, now realizing that there was a cage with a Grimm inside of it. "...wait! How the hell did we not notice that until just now?!"

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Dried Petals, Part II**


	11. Chapter 11

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, Digimon D-Code: Error of Hades, Metastability, The Taken King, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Pendulum's Fifth Swing.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter V: Dried Petals, Part II**

As soon as Port's ax cut the links to the chain holding the door closed, it flung open. A spinning ball of black and white launched itself at Ruby, who immediately leaped over it, evading the attack with a shot from her Crescent Rose throwing her up in the air. Landing on the ground, she saw the ball come to a stop, slamming up against the wall. As it slumped to the floor, she got a good look: a black boar-like creature with curved tusks coming out from its mouth, and the majority of its body covered in thick, white plating.

"A Boarbatusk?" Weiss questioned curiously, a hand on her chin. "That's surprising. Actually...how did Professor Port manage to preserve a Grimm? I thought they dissipate whenever they're captured?"

"He probably must've caught it not too long ago. I mean, it seemed like it was trying to escape its cage earlier..." Blake pointed out.

Back to the fight on the ground floor, the Boarbatusk squealed as it scraped the ground with its hoof, indicating it was about to charge again.

Ruby readied her trust partner, twirling it around as she readied for its charge. In truth, she was a bit excited. Till now, all she's fought are Creeps and Beowolves and Ursi. This would be her first time fighting a Grimm like this! So exciting!

The Boarbatusk jumped up before it spun into a roll once more. Ruby moved quickly and flanked the approaching Grimm with the blade of her scythe fueled by a gunshot recoil.

Her blade struck against it in mid-spin, though the two canceled each other out, sending the other back. Ruby landed on her scythe, which dragged along the floor tiles, albeit at the cost of them being ripped apart. Port didn't seem to mind, given his commentary. "Oho~ Not so easy as you thought it was, isn't it?" Ruby pouted a bit, hoping she'd be able to do more in her first strike. The Boartusk landed back on its hooves before it charged at her again, intending to impale her on its tusks. Hoping to through it off balance, she fired off a few rounds, only for them to bounce off.

It got too close for comfort. She bounced off the ground, hopping atop his back and letting out a point blank shot. Sadly, no damage was done whatsoever as she landed behind it. The Boartusk slid around, pounding its hoof and snorting indignantly.

"Try and knock it off balance!" Weiss called from the sidelines. "Boarbatusks don't have any armor underneath their stomachs!"

"Got it!" Ruby yelled in confirmation. She also knew about this, but it was nice to have been reminded of something she forgot in the heat of combat. Changing tactics, Ruby switched ammunition cartridges of her weapon from the pouch on her belt.

As she did, the Boarbatusk let out a whine, going in for another spin attack. With a slam of the butt of her sniper scythe, Ruby bounced into the air, narrowly avoiding it. When she landed back on the ground, she slammed her scythe as far into the ground as possible, loading up a round into the chamber. As the Grimm spun around, gaining speed, Ruby smirked as she pulled the trigger.

The recoil was stronger compared to before. Were it not for the fact that Crescent Rose was stuck in the ground, she would have been knocked into the air. The bullet soared and plowed right into its face, causing the Grimm to veer off course and slam into the wall. Dazed and stunned, it bounced off the floor before flopping on the ground on its backside.

Just as Weiss had said, its belly was completely exposed. Only black flesh was revealed.

The hooded girl grinned and took her chance. She pulled her weapon out of the ground and dashed toward the downed Grimm. With a single swing of her weapon, the scythe blade pierced its vulnerable underside, finally killing it.

It let out a pitiful whine before its body became limp. Seconds later, it began to dissipate into black wisps.

"Excellent work, Miss Rose." Professor Port announced in approval, mirth in his voice.

"It seems we have a Huntress in the making. Of course, some credit must also go to Miss Schnee for keeping up with her Grimm studies." At this, the heiress huffed, thrusting her chest out with pride. "Reminder, class! Alone, you can only accomplish so much. But with your team, anything is possible!" Before he could continue on, possibly with another story, the bell suddenly rang. "And that would be the bell. Your assignment is to read Chapters I through VI, and answer all questions on page 63. As Doctor Oobleck would remark, I want COMPLETE sentences, thank you!"

With that final note from the professor, class was dismissed. JNPR, and WBY went down the stairs to regroup with their red-hooded friend and congratulate her on a job well done.

Students poured out of the room like a flood, spilling out into the hallways. "That fight was a bit short, if you ask me." Nora complained with a whine. "I expected you to be darting all over the place, hitting like hwtaaa and hyaaa!"

"At least she didn't make a fool of herself." Weiss remarked before lightly rapping her knuckle against Ruby's forehead. "Next time, though, at least try and pay attention to Professor Port's lectures, Ruby. Ozpin made you a leader. Don't go making him second-guess his decision."

"Seriously, Weiss?" Yang quirked an eyebrow. "How in the hell can she pay attention when all Port does is ramble about his past?" Then her eyes narrowed. "More importantly, I want to know who hit her in the head earlier during class."

"From what I could determine, it was a male student with a blonde mohawk." Weiss replied, recalling the snickering male before. Her face scrunched in disapproval. "He was quite rude."

"I could think of a few other things to describe him." Jaune said, shaking his head. "Now that I think about it, I think I've seen him before. Isn't he apart of Team CRDL?"

Unknown to the two teams, not far behind was a towering male, staring at their retreating forms with a slight scowl on his face. What happened in class wasn't supposed to happen. The little brat was supposed to screw up. It was a bit gleeful to see her weak enough to accept help from her teammate, but dammit, she wasn't supposed to actually beat that thing! She was supposed to make a damn fool of herself.

"Tch."

Clicking his tongue, the male walked away, slipping his hands in his pants pockets.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well, that pretty much completes the tour." Coco said as they entered the main hall of Beacon, right at the intersection where the roads leading to the dorms was at. "What do you think of Beacon so far, Your Highness?"

"It's a pretty great place." Noctis replied honestly.

"Then again, I'm not exactly looking forward to the long lectures."

Ignis sighed, adjusting his glasses. "Unfortunately, Noct, you're going to have to deal with it." He then turned to Team CFVY and bowed his head. "Thank you for showing us around Beacon Academy, Miss Adel."

"It was no trouble at all." Coco grinned, waving a hand in dismissal. "Also, 'miss' makes me feel old. Just call me Coco."

"Speaking of classes..." Prompto tilted his head. "Shouldn't we be in one? Like, right now?"

"Second years don't start class until tomorrow." Velvet explained. "Since you two are classified as second years due to the exchange program, you don't have to worry about them today."

"Right, got it." Prompto nodded in understanding.

Of course, the blonde photographer was also bummed because they wouldn't be able to be in the same classes as Ruby. The Cultural Exchange program was rather odd, but then again, it was a new thing that was still being worked on even now.

Gladio, on the other hand, was glad he and Ignis would not have to attend. While they were apart of Team LAPI, they were Crownsguard before being students. Prompto and Noctis were students by requirement age, whilst they were in their twenties. He would admit, however, that it was a shame he wouldn't be able to partake in a certain combat class.

"Well, classes aside..." the burly man said. "I'm starting to get hungry. Isn't it almost time for lunch or something?"

"As a matter of fact, it is." Yatsuhashi answered. "Let's head over to the mess hall. I'm sure your friends will be there as well."

"Sweet." Noctis smirked, already sold on the prospect of food.

"Hopefully nothing too crazy happened while we were gone."

"Prompto, I highly doubt something like that would happen. It's only been one day. One class even."

"Dude, it's high school!" the sharpshooter of the team stated firmly. "ANYTHING can happen!"

Noctis shook his head. "Prompto...this isn't a manga."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Nora, get down from there!"

"Wooooooohooooo~!"

"Oh crap, flying turkey!"

'Unbelievable...' Weiss thought, palming her face while Ruby ducked underneath the table, avoiding a series of grapes being launched at her, courtesy of her blonde brawler of a sister. 'It's the first day and school, and what does my team do? Start a food fight.'

On the plus side, though, at least they didn't involve the entire cafeteria. On the downside, everyone was taking bets as to who would win: Team RWBY or Team JNPR. Weiss and Ren, much the former's relief, wisely chose to stay out of it as well and sat off to the side. Pyrrha and Jaune were forcibly dragged into it, courtesy of Nora. The blonde knight had tried to back out, but one pie to the face by Blake, who Yang had similarly dragged into the chaotic mess, and suddenly things were hectic.

It even got to the point where Yang grabbed Jaune by the foot and threw him at a window where the others watched him slide down with food smearing the glass.

It was both funny and terrifying how things are quickly escalating. Somebody had to put a stop to this. The betting students certainly weren't.

"So," she began slowly, looking at Ren. "Any ideas how to stop this madness?"

"When Nora gets like this, I usually just wait until she exhausts herself, but given how the others are participating as well, that may not work." He shook his head. "I would say our best bet is to find a staff member to try and break up this conflict."

"Professor Goodwitch, then?"

A flash of light caught their attention. They turned and found the four Lucians standing before the sight, jaws agape with amazement. Prompto lowered his camera, a wide grin on his face. "This..." he said slowly. "...is the best first day of school. Ever."

"You gotta be kiddin'." Gladio said, unsure if what he was seeing was actually happening. "They started a food fight? Already?"

Noctis groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm betting Yang had a hand in this."

"And it seems I must retract my previous statement..." Ignis sighed as he massaged his temple.

"Yaaaang!" Ruby cried from underneath the table. "I told you! No cheap shots!"

The blonde brawler grinned, rolling an apple around in her hand before being throttled to the floor, struck by a pie, courtesy of Pyrrha. "I'm sorry!" the red-haired girl apologized. She then ducked underneath a revenge shot from the apple in Yang's hand. "Really sorry! I was aiming for Blake!"

"How'd you drag me into this...?" the Cat Faunus questioned miserably as she hid beneath the table with Ruby, wiping away the bits and juices from grapes and oranges from her hair. "Moreover, why is nobody trying to stop this?"

"Why would anybody wanna stop us?!" Nora cheered as she tossed a watermelon at the blonde. "This is too much fun!"

Weiss and Ren sighed. The heiress, deciding enough was enough, stood up from her seat and waved a hand.

In the next second, a series of glyphs danced around them. Produce - apples, grapes, oranges and watermelons among other things - were left suspended in the air. All eyes soon fell on her. "I understand..." she said, trying to remain calm. One could easily tell that she was ticked off, however, by the twitching eyebrow she sported. "Today is the first day, so there's bound to be shenanigans. Even so...!"

Before anyone could refute her words...a flick of her wrist, and then the suspended food was launched back into the instigators' faces.

Yang, Nora, Pyrrha and Jaune were promptly flung back. The only ones spared were Ruby and Blake, who wisely chose to abandon the fight when it clearly got too dangerous.

"That's no excuse to be starting a food fight of all things!" Weiss shouted at them, putting a hand at her hips. "Honestly! We're supposed to be Huntress and Huntsmen in training! How childish are all of you?!"

"Oh, lighten up, Ice Queen." Yang said, waving a hand as she wiped the juices of watermelon from her face. "We were just having fun."

"One, don't call me that." the girl growled. "Two, fun?!" She gestured to the surrounding area around their bench, which was littered with the destroyed remains of any and all food they could get their hands on. "You call this fun?!" She then turned a glare at Jaune and Pyrrha, who seemed to realize that they had gotten caught up in the excitement and bowed their heads in shame. "And you two! You should have tried and stop this! Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?!"

Gladio whistled. "Damn..." he said, leaning over and whispering to Noctis and Prompto. "She's really tearing into them."

The prince nodded. "Got that right." he said before noticing the absence of the second-year team that came with them to the mess hall. "Wait, where's Coco and her team?"

"They went to find a teacher when they discovered this mess." Ignis told him. "They should be here with an instructor right about-"

"...children."

"-now."

The other students stiffened upon hearing the familiar, strict voice. In unison, the students slowly turned their heads to the source, which just so happened to be a very irate Glynda Goodwitch with Team CFVY standing behind her.

With a wave of her riding crop, every table and chair in the mess hall was lifted from the ground and rearranged themselves while the foodstuffs levitated from every surface and disposed of themselves into the wastebins. The teens had to scramble away to avoid getting caught up in the cleanup.

In a matter of seconds, the room was spotless and back to its original state.

"Whoa..." Prompto whispered, taking a shot of the sight before it ceased. "Is this her Semblance?"

"Seems like it."

The blonde combat professor pushed up her glasses, aiming a glare at the involved parties, who shuddered beneath her glare. "...please," she said icily. "Don't play with your food. As Miss Schnee said, today is the first day. I will be willing to overlook this. However, if this repeats...do expect to be spending the next week in detention. Understood?"

At first, no one spoke as they were still focused on what she just did. Wrong answer.

"I said, is that understood?" She voiced her question louder for emphasis.

"Yes ma'am!" The room responded collectively.

"Good."

After saying that, she turned on her heel and left, leaving the entire room stupefied. With a flick of her riding crop, the doors shut behind her. The room was deathly silent, as no one dared to speak after receiving such a chilling glare. Ignis had to admit, it was quite an effective method of quieting down a room. It made him wonder how good she would be in damage control.

The silence was then broken by Yang, whose face broke out into a grin. "...worth it!"

"Of course you'd think so." Blake said dryly as she and Ruby emerged out from underneath the table. "And again, I ask, why did I let you drag me into this?"

"Oh, come on! You gotta admit, that was awesome!"

"And once again, I question your idea of fun." the Faunus deadpanned, shaking her head.

"Are you kidding? It was a blast!" Nora cried as she jumped up and down.

"Well...it was kind of fun..." Jaune admitted. "Well, except for when Yang and Nora double-teamed me and hit me with a watermelon."

He never knew being hit like that hurt so much. Especially by watermelon.

Soon, the crowd of students began to disperse. Some of them looked to be a bit upset about the bet being unsettled. Of course, there was still the matter of their clothes, which were now dyed in splattered fruit juice and other stuff. Yang was thankful that the stuff never touched her hair, otherwise there would be some hell to pay. However, just as the group was about to leave, they heard snickering not far away.

Turning, they found the source. It was Cardin Winchester, leader of Team CRDL.

"Something funny?" Jaune asked with tension in his voice, folding his arms.

"Maybe, maybe not. I mean, you guys did just get chewed out by Professor Goodwitch for starting this mess." Cardin shrugged. "Then again, what do you expect from a bunch of pansies and a cheater?"

Ruby flinched, the words striking her in the chest. Yang's eyes narrowed, and her hands balled into fists. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." The tall male looked down on her. "How else do you expect a runt like that have gotten in two years early? She must've cheated her way in."

Weiss frowned heavily in disapproval as she stepped in front of Ruby. "Ozpin himself invited her here." she defended her leader. "I think that more than speaks for itself."

"Che." Cardin scoffed. "And of course you'd defend her. What, she pay you to be her best friend?"

"Hey, asshole." Gladio growled. The sight was starting to grate on his nerves. He didn't know who the kid was, and quite frankly, he didn't care. He wasn't about to let someone verbally abuse his highness' friend in a manner like this. "Why don't walk away, before I do something I might really regret?"

"And what would that be?"

"My sword, up your ass."

"Pft, it'd like to see you try." He scoffed.

"You're seriously asking for it, aren't you?" He growled.

Ignis walked up behind the man, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Calm yourself, Gladio." he warned his friend before he did anything rash. The teen was most certainly arrogant, but at this rate he was seriously going to push Gladio to where he didn't want him to. It would be bad if that happened, especially since they were representatives. Even if he was the instigating party, they couldn't afford the-

*WHAM!*

The sound of a fist hitting tender flesh echoed in the air as Cardin suddenly found himself throttled to the floor, cradling a bruised cheek. "Ow!" he hissed, rubbing a hand where he was struck before glaring at the one who struck him. "You son of a-"

His words died in his throat when he found who punched him, especially when he saw a blade appear out of blue particles of light into their hand.

"Your Highness!"

Noctis glared at Cardin, aiming the tip of his blade at the tall teen. "I'll say this only once." he said in a low voice. "Stay away from my friends...or I'll make hell sound like a paradise. Choice is yours."

Cardin bared his teeth in anger. He wanted to throttle this guy for hitting and looking down on him. But right now, he was probably outnumbered and outmatched. Growling, he backed away.

"I'll remember this!"

"Typical, cliche, bully line."

"Man." Prompto seethed, not liking the way he treated his friends. "What. A. Dick."

Nora nodded in agreement. "I say we break his legs!"

"Don't tempt me, Nora." Gladio said, crossing his arms. "I guess it was too much, hoping that everyone at Beacon would be more focused on their studies and training than acting out a high school drama or something."

"Still, that was rather reckless of you, Noctis." Ignis frowned. "I already said we were Lucis' representatives. An account of assault like that, despite him being the instigator, would leave off the wrong impression."

"And what? Do you expect me to leave him alone after he insulted Ruby?" Noctis folded his arms over his chest. "Besides, here we aren't just Lucians. We're students, same as everyone else. That means we're treated equally. Even if I am a prince, I'm a person first and royal second."

"Believe me, I'm fully aware." Ignis sighed, adjusting his glasses before turning to Ruby. "Are you alright, Ruby?"

"I-I guess..." she replied, her demeanor slightly depressed.

"Don't listen to that idiot. He doesn't know what he's talking about." Yang assured her.

Weiss nodded in agreement. "You earned your spot here at Beacon, just like everyone else." she told her leader. "Just ignore the dunce."

Ruby gave a low bob, not quite convinced. In truth, she had felt like she had cheated somehow. Compared to her friends at Signal, she got a free shot just for stopping Roman Torchwick. She thought anyone could have done it. It seemed a bit unfair that she would be pulling ahead of everyone else.

Why had Ozpin offered her such a thing in the first place? What made her so special that she was moved ahead two years?

She was so confused and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by it all. Everything was happening so quickly, she wasn't sure where this was all going.

XXXXXXXXXX

The White Hood Base was utter chaos. Flames burned everywhere. Soldiers were running about like chickens with their heads cut off. Their base commander was shot in the throat, dead after choking on his own blood and fried to a crisp. White Fang soldiers were attacking, slaughtering their tormentors by the dozens. It had taken at least twenty minutes before a proper counterattack was mounted.

Even then, it was all for naught. By the time they scrambled together to fight back, it was already too late. They had been reduced to approximately 35 percent of their original forces.

"Damn animals!" one member cried, rushing about in order to try and mount an offensive. "Where's the boss?!"

He soon received his answer when three White Fang soldiers, appearing from around the corner, weapons raised, soon found themselves cut to ribbons.

"H-huh...?" One of the White Fang troops questioned with his last breath as they collapsed into finely sliced pieces.

"Oh thank, Oum! You're here!" The Hood troop breathed a sigh of relief at his savior.

Amidst the freshly made corpses was an individual wearing a red jacket. The emblem of the hoods was marked on his back while a hood was pulled over his face. Beneath the jacket was armor - high advanced with red highlights. The jacket itself looked more like a coat, reaching down to his knees while the cuffs of the sleeves were open, revealing gauntlets with sharp claws. Over the lower half of his face was covered by a steel mask while a visor hid the upper half.

In his hands were three-pronged blades, resembling claws. Each blade was curved and sharp, easily able to cut through skin.

This was none other than the leader of the White Hoods - Trinity. It was not his real name, of course. He never properly introduced himself. Instead, his name came from his weapons, and for the cold brutality, he gave upon his foes.

"...what are our losses?" Trinity asked, his voice cold and sharp like a knife. "And how strong is the enemy force?"

"Sir! Unfortunately, we lost approximately 65% of our forces. 40% from the initial explosions, and the remaining 25 from the conflict. One of them was Sergeant Beige. In regards to the Enemy force, I estimate their numbers to be around 200." The trooper saluted.

Trinity looked around, taking in the carnage. Beneath the visor, his eyes glowed. Seemingly, he locked eyes with Plague, who watched from afar with his rifle sitting on his shoulder. Scoffing, the armored man trudged forward, turning his head to the soldier. "Gather the rest of our men. This isn't an attack - this is a message. It's proper that we respond in kind."

"Sir!"

"And while you're at it..." Trinity spoke in a deadpan tone. "...bring out the tank."

The soldier then stiffened. When his boss requests the tank that means he was as serious as fuck. Nodding quickly, he went to make preparations double time, leaving Trinity alone amongst the carnage.

Once he did, several White Fang suddenly emerged around him. The man regarded them with apathy, bringing out his blades. "That coat...he must be the enemy leader!" one of them snarled. "We kill him, and the rest will be easy!"

"You're free to try." Trinity shrugged. "Just don't blame me when you all die."

 **[Play: Lusus Naturae by Jeff Williams]**

"You die you damn human!" A White Fang soldier with an ax roared as she charged wildly.

Trinity regarded her with apathy. Just as she leaped into the air, intent on cutting him down, he spun around on his heel. His blades retracted into a single, large blade that was as long as his forearms. As he came full circle, he slammed one of his large swords into her attack, knocking it away and following up with a roundhouse kick that knocked her away. Then her comrades came charging at him - one with a scimitar and the other with a kukri.

The first one reached him. He swung in an arc over the shoulder as if to cut through his chest. The leader evaded with ease, stepping back on one foot and twisting his body around, slamming his heel into his back, sending him tumbling to the dirt. Then the grunt with the kukri came at him, jumping into the air with his knife raised high into the air. Trinity scoffed as, without turning around, he performed a backflip that left him on his hands.

Then he threw himself into the air, slamming both feet into the thug's throat. Though his aura protected him, he could feel the pain that would have otherwise crushed his trachea. The thug was left up higher in the air while Trinity landed on the ground. Just as the two grunts from earlier recovered, he looked up to find the third grunt falling.

He decided to return him to them as, once his falling body was in front of him, he slammed the flats of both of his united blades into him, blowing him straight at them. The result was a haphazard collision that put them back on the floor.

As the three scrambled to pull themselves out of the pile, the other grunts that surrounded the leader rushed in in a frenzy. The White Hood commander remained where he stood as his blades separated into three segments once more. Two of the White Fang troops tried to snag him in a pincer attack. Without looking, Trinity raised his leg and rammed his armored foot into the masked Faunus' jaw while parrying the other's sword.

Then, just as two came to rush him from the side, he hopped up on his remaining leg, easily avoiding the oncoming attacks. Crossing his arms, he then delivered a spin attack, slashing all the grunts around him in a full 360 angle, tossing them away from him. Landing back on his feet, he then charged at the recovering grunts he dealt with earlier.

Seeing his approach, two of the grunts took out rifles and tried to gun him down. Trinity weaved through them as if they were nothing, barely hindering him whatsoever. For a moment, black wisps seemed to flow off of his form and burning purple orbs glowed beneath the visor.

"Goddammit, just gun him down!" the female member growled as she took a firearm from her back - a grenade launcher. She fired off a round, aimed directly for him. "Die you son of a bitch!"

Unfortunately, she was oblivious to what would soon become her death.

As they all aimed their firearms at the armor-clad man, they failed to notice the black wisps rising from his body. Just as they were about to pull the triggers, their whole world became consumed by darkness as a black fog exploded from the human.

"Welcome to your nightmare," Trinity whispered, his voice practically echoing in their ears.

Then, while everywhere else as the flames around the camp continued to burn alongside the roaring sounds of battle and death, screams echoed from inside the fog.

Seconds later, blood dripped to the ground.

XXXXXXXXXX

They called him Plague.

Just like the commander of the White Hoods - the oppressive force that tormented the Faunus - no one knew his name. He was called Plague because of what he brought to the battlefield.

It was not disease, pestilence or famine. In retrospect, perhaps it would have been better, for the "plague" this single individual was not that of what ravaged the body...

"I-I can't see! I can't see!"

"Get them off of me! Get it off!"

"Wh-where are you guys?! H-hey!"

"No no no! God, stop it!"

...but of the mind.

As the cloaked, iron-masked man stalked through the battlefield, unheeded by his comrades and subordinates slaughtering the helpless Hoods, who could not see what was happening to them, Roman could only chuckle, tipping his hat.

"He ain't no walking pathogen, but he sure as shit is a walking nightmare," he said, smoking a cigar as he blew out the brains of a lowly grunt with his cane. The poor bastard didn't even see it, too busy fumbling around with his arms waving as if trying to find something. "Kinda reminds me of that Emerald brat's Semblance...only a shit-ton worse."

If he could make a comparison between the embodiment of death before him, and his boss' green haired lackey...it wasn't even a contest. The girl may be good, but this guy takes the term, 'mind-fucker', to new levels.

One thing's for sure though...he was glad that Plague was on his side. He would NOT want to be on the receiving end of whatever mojo he was capable of.

Too bad the same couldn't be said for his victims, who were all lying on the ground dead.

"Man, if only Neo was here to see this." the mobster snickered, feeling the girl would enjoy the brutality around her. "Well, back to work I guess."

However, just as he was about to continue forward, the earth beneath him trembled, causing the group under him to become concerned. Frowning, he heard what sounded like objects being crushed and broken underfoot. Craning his head, he saw something approaching. Seconds later, it barreled its way through crates and tents, charging into his path.

When he got a clear look of it, Roman swore like a sailor. "Oh, motherf-"

The tank opened fire, shooting mortal shells loaded with Fire Dust.

The shell impacted the ground not too far away from him, blowing him away from the force of the blast. However, the same could not be said for the White Fang troops who were within the blast radius.

Fortunately, their demise was quick and relatively painless.

A few were not so lucky. Flames burned at their clothes, smoldering away at their skin and quickly draining their Aura. Roman tumbled through the dirt before coming to a stop, grinding his cane through the earth to halt his advance. Looking up, he found the tank's turret slowly turning towards him. Giving a scowl, he stood back up and loaded Dust rounds into the chamber.

"Alright, ya big rust bucket..." he grunted. "Bring it."

He took aim, and pulled the tri-

A steel ball struck the top of the tank, soon exploding. Seconds later, a frigid breeze blew through the area. Flames were immediately extinguished, leaving behind a horrible cold that made the mafiaso's teeth clack together, goosebumps forming across his skin. The tank's form became encased in ice - metal coated with sheets of a freezing embrace. The body creaked, fruitlessly trying to move. Seconds later, it ceased to move. The engine sputtered and faded away.

Blinking, the man turned.

"We don't have time for this horse shit." Plague got out. "Spread out. Kill everyone you find. Leave Trinity to me. Anyone who interferes, I'll kill them on the spot."

"Yes sir!" The grunts responded and were quick to comply. After truly seeing what Plague was capable of, none of them were eager to invoke his ire.

Roman just stared at the man, then at the newly frozen piece of metal. Then he sighed, shaking his head, scratching the back of his head before heading off to fulfill his own objective.

No sooner had they left did Plague turn and fire a round from his sniper rifle. The bullet was sliced through by a shimmering blade. Setting his rifle down, Plague grabbed the hilt of the rod below the barrel. In a swift motion, he brandished what appeared to be a thin rapier with no hilt carrying a dark purple edge. He holstered the firearm across his back with his free hand. As the blade neared him, he swung, clashing with his target.

Red orbs met purple ones as sparks flew against their masks.

"Long time no see, Trinity..." Plague said, steam blowing through his mask. "...ready to die?"

The armored man scoffed, pushing against his foe. "Sorry to say this...but the only one meant to die tonight is you and the White Fang." Black wisps danced around him, and power radiated in the air. "Now be quiet and die without a sound. Blithering noise irritates my ears."

"Then you'll have to settle with a death cry in your ears. Worthless scum!"

The two parted...and then charged again, intending to end the other's life.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _A series of flashes went by._

 _Flames, destruction, devastation._

 _Death._

 _Ear-shattering cries filled the very air, reaching to the heavens as gargantuan figures battled._

 _The tears of the gods fell upon the mortal realm, yet did nothing to quell the inferno that ravaged the earth and its people._

 _Atop a ship, two young men battled - one garbed in black, and the other in white._

 _Below, two titans brawled for dominance - a deathly creature who sought to snuff out the light, and the other a towering being who represented the very earth it stood upon._

 ** _"Light and darkness dance together, crossing between worlds and through time and space."_**

 _In the flames below that consumed a pristine city, silver eyes carrying a bloody red scythe, heralded by dancing rose petals, cut through black beasts seeking out specks of light._

 _Atop a tower, a woman garbed in black fought with a horned demon, wreathed in pitch black flames._

 _To the edges of this ruined battleground, a yellow dragon struck_ blow _for blow against lifeless corpses, corrupted by the malevolent darkness._

 _A white princess, protected by ghostly white armor, stood against a stalwart figure, giant sword in hand with a cold gaze._

 _A red-haired warrior kneeled,_ arrow _stuck in her chest as her opponent glared her down, watching as she broke apart into ashes._

 _A blonde knight screamed, swinging his sword at the same figure the princess battled._

 _A girl with a hammer tried to protect a young gunslinger from a horrid beast made of nightmares, only to fall by its hand._

 ** _"Silver and Light, hand i_ _n hand, brace the storm ahead, come what may..."_**

 _Warriors stood together against many a black creature, led by a witch with a cruel smile._

 _Standing amidst an endless sea of carnage and destruction, a lone man with a cold grin and black and yellow eyes - damned tears running down his face._

 ** _"The future lies yet uncertain, King of Lucis..."_**

XXXXXXXXXX

The world broke apart like glass, and staring before Regis Lucis Caelum was a giant figure, armored with blades as their wings and a cold, sharp gaze boring into his very soul like daggers digging into flesh.

"The Chosen King must stand together with the Champions of Light, lest the Starscourge ravage this world, untouched by Eos. Thus is the Prophecy of Bahamut."

The world flashed, breaking apart into spectrums of harsh light.

Regis' eyes opened, staring back at his own reflection - held by the Crystal - before he stepped away, giving a heavy sigh. "Your Majesty..." Cor spoke with a frown, stepping forward. "What did you see?"

"...a dark future." the King answered gravely, turning to the Marshal. "One, I fear...that may be worse than what awaited us in Lucis."

Cor's eyes widened by the King's words. A future worse than what would've happened in Eos? Was such a thing even possible?

Regis sighed as he ran a hand down his face. Years ago, he and Sylvia Nox Fleuret took measures to flee from Eos and Nifleheim to prevent such tragedy from happening. But it seemed he was only delaying the inevitable. No matter how hard he tried...his son was fated to fulfill the will of the Astrals. Even worse, his friends will become dragged into it if the visions were of any indication.

"I feared for the safety of my people-nay...for my own son because of what awaited him. Niflheim was just beyond the horizon, ready to conquer us...and yet, we have brought what I feared would come to pass to Remnant." The king closed his eyes, bitterness swelling in his breast. "Dammit all..."

At his side, Titus frowned heavily. "If the cause behind this is Ardyn Izunia, then shouldn't we act?" he said in concern. "If we were to eliminate him, we could-"

"Impossible." Cor cut him off. "Just as he once held the position of Chancellor of Niflheim as Aldecapt's most trusted advisor, he's the High Councilman of Atlas. Like General Ironwood, he holds a great deal of influence...if not more so. Unless we have evidence, we're all but declaring ourselves enemies to Atlas and its council."

Regis sighed heavily. "And we can't claim that he was apart of our homeworld, either." he said, turning to his most trusted guards. "They would simply dismiss us. Out of the four kingdoms, Atlas has hardly been the most trusting, despite Ozpin and James' efforts."

It was the truth. Despite Lucis' contributions to the four Kingdoms of Remnant, the Kingdom of Atlas remained skeptical about their presence. Not only did they appear out of nowhere following the bizarre weather patterns that claimed countless lives, but their Pro-Faunus stance has left a majority of their citizens reluctant in trusting them.

Of course, another contributing factor was the tension between Lucis and the Schnee Dust Corporation.

Or, more accurately, Jacques Schnee. The man had made no secret behind his contempt towards the Faunus, due to the hostilities took against Faunus, which caused the White Fang to attack his family. When Lucis arrived, he was enthralled and curious about the prospect of taking advantage of the Elemental Nodes in Lucis, though the King had put his foot down.

Trading between Lucis and Atlas has remained on thin ice as is. Regis feared what would happen if they did misstep, even once.

And declaring an attack on Ardyn Izunia, a high ranking official, would completely overstep that mishap and plunge them into war. As much as he hated to admit it, the former Chancellor was quite crafty and cunning to ensure they could not touch him.

"So what can we do?" Titus gritted his teeth. "Stand by and do nothing?"

"I'm afraid so..." Regis nodded gravely with somber eyes, looking up at the ceiling and staring towards the sky. Closing his eyes, he mumbled softly. "May the gods help us..."

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Winchester Dilemma**


	12. Chapter 12

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, Digimon D-Code: Error of Hades, Metastability, The Taken King, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Pendulum's Fifth Swing.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter VI: Winchester Dillema**

Cardin growled angrily as he tried to swing his mace at his opponent, going in for a horizontal blow across the face. A shield blocked it effortlessly, shrugging it off before retaliating with a single strike to the face. "Khrk!" the towering brute grunted, staggering back as he held his face. He failed to bring up his Aura in time, so his nose was scraped. A small trickle of blood dripped down his nose before it began to mend itself. "You're gonna pay for that, Jauney Boy!"

"Seriously?" the blonde knight rolled his eyes. "That the best you can come up with? I don't even need Crocea Mars for this!"

Both Jaune and Cardin were in the middle of a sparring match in Professor Goodwitch's class. The larger teen assumed it would be an easy victory.

He was wrong.

Even fighting without his sword, Jaune was kicking Cardin's ass.

Ever since the match started, he had been easily dodging his strikes and fighting back with his bare hands. Yes, he had his shield out, but his sword rested firmly in the sheath at his waist. Growling in anger, Cardin tried to sweep him off of his feet and get a hit in. He swiveled around on his feet, going in for the sweep. Jaune merely charged in, rolling his back against Cardin's as he vaulted over him and avoiding it. His feet touched the ground and swiveled around, delivering a shield bash to his back.

Cardin found himself thrown to the ground, flopping about before he glared at the blonde in anger, slamming a fist and standing back up. "This is the part where you lose!" he cried, rushing in for a bash.

Jaune scoffed. "Yeah, not happening." he said before he threw his shield straight at Cardin. The armored teen was stunned, but recovered and smacked the shield away. To his surprise, however, he soon found Jaune charging at him. Before he could defend himself, the blonde knight rushed in and grabbed him by the head, slamming his knee straight into his face. Cardin yelped, finding himself flat on his back. He tried to stand, but a knee had pinned him to the floor. He looked up, scowling at Jaune, who stared him down.

In his hand was his sheath, positioned over Cardin's throat. Aura or no, a thick object being slammed into his throat was going to hurt.

As it stood now, the brute was pinned.

"Give up yet?" Jaune questioned.

The auburn-haired teen gritted his teeth. Scowling, he tapped his hand against his scroll.

A buzzer went off, and the stadium was filled with light once again. As Jaune stepped off of Cardin, he offered him a hand, only for the armored brute to slap it away and get up, stomping away angrily. Glynda watched him leave with an infuriated look on his face before sighing. She then turned to address the class.

"As you can see, class..." she said while gesturing to the screens which showed their respective Aura levels. While Cardin's was around 55% or so, Jaune's remained in the upper 80's. "Mr. Arc's Aura remained in the green zone while Mr. Winchester's was in the yellow. Should his Aura have hit the red zone, that would have rendered him incapable of participating in a finalized match." She pushed up her glasses, analyzing the crowd. "Now then, can anyone tell me what were the highs and lows of this match?"

Pyrrha raised her hand. Glynda nodded with approval. "Ms. Nikos."

"From the beginning of the match, Cardin fight with brute force to try and overpower Jaune. However, Jaune countered this by using his own power against him." the Mistral Champion stated. "Furthermore, Jaune fought with calculation. All of his moves were precise and cautious, constantly gauging him for the opportune moment to counterattack."

Weiss threw in her own thoughts. "Not only that, but his decision to not use his sword caused Cardin to become overwhelmed with anger. He merely bumbled around the stage, swinging wildly whereas Jaune easily predicted his moves and defeated him."

"Precisely. Excellent, Miss Nikos, Miss Schnee." Glynda nodded in approval.

Cardin let out a scoff as he sat down with his team, an annoyed look on his face. "Lucky shot..." he muttered under his breath while his team looked on, uncertain.

"Remember, everyone." Glynda said, the faintest smile on her face as she adjusted her glasses. "The Vytal Festival is less than six months away. All of you will be representing Beacon Academy. It is my sincerest hope you train extensively, as there will be other representatives from the neighboring kingdoms."

The students bristled with excitement. Ruby shook in her seat, just outright excited about the prospect of taking part in the tournament. That, and she was quite eager to see what kind of weapons her fellow students would use. Weiss smiled, bobbing her head in agreement with Glynda's statement. It was also her chance to prove to her father that she was capable of standing by herself instead of relying on him. Blake grinned a bit, more curious about the festivities than anything else. Yang, being the thrill-seeker she was, found herself looking forward to the incredible powerhouses the kingdom's no doubt had.

The members of team JNPR shared their friends' excitement. Jaune was eager to show his teacher just how much he grew since they last met. Nora was excited for the festivities and food. Pyrrha was excited at the notion of celebrating the festival with her new friends. Ren nodded, his excitement evident by the small grin on his face.

"Well then." the blonde instructor said, closing her eyes. "Class dismissed."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ugh, I'm beat..." Prompto groaned as he face-planted to the wooden surface of the table. "I can't keep up with that Oobleck guy...how can one guy talk so fast?"

Gladio grunted. "Beats me." he said, taking a swig of his coffee. "Makes you wonder what kind of espresso he takes?"

"Must be the good stuff." Noctis said before he turned to his friends. "So, how was combat class?"

"It. Was. AWESOME!" Nora said jubilantly, waving her arms around. "Leader totally kicked Cardin's butt! You should have seen it! It reminds me of the fight me and Ren had!" At this, the magenta-eyed boy sighed, face-palming. The others, however, were curious as they leaned in, interested to what the girl was going to say. "So there we were, in the middle of the night-!"

"It was day." Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursai-"

"Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"There was only two."

"But they were no match! In the end, Ren and I made a butt-load of lien selling off Ursai-skin rugs!"

Ignis raised an eyebrow. "...beg your pardon, but that is impossible." he said politely. "Unless you found a way to preserve a tooth, it is otherwise impossible for a Grimm to leave anything behind."

Ren sighed heavily, shaking his head. "She's been having this dream for nearly a month now!"

"Now that makes more sense..." Gladio commented. "And for a month?"

The boy nodded.

"...you have my condolences."

"You learn to get used to it."

Jaune chuckled, scratching his cheek. "Sounds like my eldest sister when she's drunk an entire gallon of Mount Diez." he said wryly before he leaned in with an excited look on his face. "So, you guys excited for the Vytal Festival? It's supposed to start near the middle of the second semester, right? What do you think it'll be like?"

"Who can say?" Noctis shrugged. "To be honest, this'll be Lucis' first time participating in it. We've seen matches, but this'll be our first real debut."

Prompto chuckled. "Personally, I can hardly wait!" he said with excitement. "Just think of all the sick shots I'll be able to get of everyone! Speaking of which..." the blonde sharpshooter fiddled with his camera, tapping a few buttons before showing the shots off to everyone. "Is Jaune here photogenic or what?"

The group leaned into the tiny screen. To the amazement of a lot of them, all of the photos were of top-notch quality. They looked like they were taken by a professional.

"Wow, you have good photography skills."

"You could make it big as a photographer." Weiss remarked. She had to admit, despite her misgivings against Jaune, still a bit sore about his blunder in their first meeting, the photo of him defending against Cardin's mace, standing his ground with a fearsome expression on his face befitting a future Glaive, was quite impressive. "Why'd you decide to become a Huntsman?"

Prompto smiled, taking his camera back. "Well, I suppose it's because I like the adventure." he said earnestly. "I want to see all kinds of places and what they all have to offer. That, and I wanna see the sights."

"And maybe impress Cindy." Gladio quipped making him blush. He then grinned, looking at everyone with a gleam in his eye that only made his friend pale. "Oh yeah, you guys don't know, do you? You see, there's this girl at Hammerhead that-"

"Nononono!" Prompto wailed, flailing his hands. "They don't need to know about that!"

"Why not? We're all friends here. So why not tell them about the girl you-"

"I said no!" Prompto covered Gladio's mouth with his hand. "Just ignore this guy! Nothing but pure nonsense spews from his mouth!"

The greatsword wielder grabbed the blonde's wrist and effortless pried it off his face.

"Prompto has a crush on a girl named Cindy." Noctis said before Gladio could. Prompto's face was stricken as if he had just suffered a horrible betrayal. "She also happens to be a mechanic in Hammerhead. She was the one who fixed up the car."

"Car?" Ruby repeated before her eyes sparkled. "You have a car, Noct?!"

Ignis nodded. "Indeed, we do. It used to belong to His Majesty. A Type-42 Regalia. In the old days, it was a very popular car model. Back then, only the most wealthy of high-ranking members of Lucis society could afford to buy one." A look of smugness happened upon his face as he adjusted his glasses. "However, the car given to us is, how shall we say, a collector's item. One I doubt His Highness will give up anytime soon, if he has a say in it."

"Damn right." the prince huffed. "Nobody's touching that baby until the day I die."

"I hear that." Yang commented with a knowing grin. "Feel the same way about my own motorcycle, Bumblebee." Her attention was then turned toward a panicking Prompto, her grin now mischievous. "Now what's this about a crush, Prompto?"

The gunslinger's face burned red, drooping his head in defeat. He then shot an accusing glare at Noctis and Prompto, the two merely showing off their pearly whites with face-splitting smiles that held no remorse. However, before he could find himself spurred on, a pained cry came out from behind.

"Ow! Hey, that hurts!"

All heads at the table snapped to the source of the cry, and their expressions became ones of rage and disgust.

At the table behind them, Team CRDL was harassing a girl with long brown hair. Cardin was laughing cruelly as he had a hand wrapped around a pair of long thin brown ears. "Hahaha! I told you they were real!" he jeered, tugging on him while the girl weakly tried to get away.

"Despicable..." Pyrrha whispered in anger. "I despise people like that."

Blake's eyes narrowed dangerously, a scowl present. "You aren't the only one."

"Must be hard, being a Faunus." Yang commented sadly, folding her arms. "Still, what the hell is that guy's problem? Not only has he been trying to pick a fight with Ruby, but everyone else at school!"

"Yeah. He's been a jerk to everyone." Jaune agreed.

"I hate people like that." The knight turned to Noctis. "What do you think, Your Highness?"

The prince didn't say anything. Instead, he just kept staring in disdain at Cardin's bullying. Eventually, he looked over at Prompto. "You still have your slingshot?"

"Never leave home without it." came the serious, yet childish reply. "You got an egg?"

"Right here." Noctis held up the egg from his plate. He handed it to the sharpshooter. Prompto loaded the egg and took aim at Cardin's face.

Weiss gawked. "W-wait, don't tell me you guys are actually going to-?!"

"Fire!"

Without hesitation, Prompto launched the egg. The round object soared before impacting Cardin on the side of his face, causing him to release his grip.

"Aaah!" he cried in shock, utterly disgusted by the feeling of something wet and slimy hitting his face. Wiping it off, he saw that it was an egg and scowled. His face turned red and looked around the room. "Okay, who did that?! Show your face you bastard?!"

No one was stupid enough to do that. Instead, they laughed at Cardin's plight while the bunny-eared girl, which Team LAPI recognized as Velvet from CFVY, scurrying away, though not before bowing her head in gratitude towards them. As the group snickered, Ruby tried to hide her laughter, covering her mouth with her hands unlike everyone else. Weiss, while finding some enjoyment, wasn't quite approving of that action. "Taking part in such juvenile acts..." she muttered. "Is he really a prince?"

Ignis gave a wry smile. "If there is anything that Noct despises in this world, Ms. Schnee." he said. "It is bullies."

XXXXXXXXXX

"God dammit..." Cardin seethed, splashing water on his face as he applied soap, not wanting the remnants of egg to stink him up. "If I find the bastard who did this, I'm gonna smash his face in!"

He was definitely pissed. No one made fun of him like that and got away with it! He will find the culprit and make their life hell!

The idea that someone had the nerve to do this pissed him off. He wasn't like the rest of these pansies. He was strong. He knew that. His team knew that. So why in the hell did they treat him like some sort of nuisance?! Especially that blonde bastard wearing the coat?!

Jaune Arc was nothing but a wannabe Kingsglaive! A fucking joke!

He prances around in that coat of his like he's really one of them. But he's not! He hasn't even joined! He only got it as a freaking gift!

And don't even get him started on the so-called "prince!" Who did he think he was?! Someone who got here just because of status didn't deserve to be here!

So why the hell was someone like Ozpin letting losers like that in here?!

Roaring in anger, he slammed his fist into the bathroom mirror, causing it to crack. "W-whoa, hey Cardin." Sky said in worry. "We know you're pissed about what happened, but the teachers are gonna get pissed about you breaking mirrors!"

"Shut it, Sky." he hissed, turning to face his partner. "Do you know who threw that egg?!"

"N-no. Russel's been asking, but no one's saying anything. L-look, we were taking it too far anyway. That girl was a second-year, man. She could have kicked our asses!"

Cardin scoffed. A pathetic weakling like that? Please! She was an animal who didn't know any better. "What could she possibly do?" he said before rudely shoving him away, walking out of the bathroom. "C'mon, let's go!"

"R-right..."

The other members of CRDL reluctantly followed. Their team leader was pretty pissed. Originally, they thought it was kinda funny messing with the other teams. But in their opinion, things were going a bit too far.

And they really didn't want to see how far things would go before it completely went FUBAR.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ruby Rose was depressed. For a wide number of reasons. Sure, she put on a good face, fooling everyone that she wasn't bothered at all, but she still couldn't help but feel off-put.

Something her sister easily picked up on. "You still hung up by what Cardin said?"

Ruby sighed. "...yeah..."

"C'mon, Rubes..." Yang sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Just forget about what that muscle head was blabbing. He's got no idea what he's talking about."

"But, Yang..." Ruby bit her lip, pulling her legs up to her chest. "He's right! I never earned my spot here. Ozpin just took me in on a whim. I mean, I'm sure a few other kids in from other schools stopped robberies from happening, but they never got an early shot at a school like Beacon before!"

"And how did you know that it's a whim?" She asked back. "Ever thought he really did see something in you?"

Ruby couldn't answer that one. To be perfectly frank, she was happy that Ozpin had allowed her to skip two grades ahead of her peers. It had always been her dream to attend Beacon like her mother and uncle. It was like a beautiful dream.

Yet Cardin's words had hurt worse than a knife and a wake-up call.

She WAS too young to be here. Compared to everyone else, she had two years less experience.

Back in Signal, everyone knew that she was ahead of them, but that was only because of Qrow. He taught her nearly everything he knew. In terms of combat, she pretty much beat everyone like a drum. Even Yang had trouble keeping up with her, and she was the top student when it came to fights. Academics weren't much of her strong-suit, but she could handle it well enough.

Compared to Signal, however, Beacon was a whole new ballgame. One she sorely realized that she wasn't prepared for. Everyone was on a level equal to her, if not more so. The academics were far harsher. Maybe if she had a year of preparation left to go, maybe it would be easier, but as things stood, she was sorely unprepared.

She didn't belong at Beacon.

She was beginning to think it was a mistake ever coming here...

"Hey hey." Yang tapped her head, already knowing full well what negative thoughts were crawling around in her mind. "None of that. Don't even think you don't belong here, because you do."

"B-but..."

"No buts!" She interrupted her.

Just then, Weiss emerged from the bathroom. Gone was her usual garments and instead wore a simple white shirt over a pair of light blue pants while her feet were left bare. Around her white hair, which was undone, was a white towel she was using to dry it off. "What's the matter?" she asked, noticing the rather gloomy atmosphere.

"Just my sister acting all depressed and me trying to snap her out of it." Yang answered.

The heiress of the SDC frowned. "Let me guess." she said with disapproval. "Cardin Winchester."

"Yup. Now he's got my sister second guessing herself like this."

"Oh, enough of that!" Weiss said hotly, hands on her hips. "Don't listen to a word that buffoon tells you! He's nothing but arrogant and disgraceful! I have half a mind to ask Ozpin why he allowed a brute like that here."

"Like how Ozpin let me in here too?" Ruby asked despondently.

"I said enough of that!" Yang shook her sister. "Seriously! Just forget about him!"

"I mean, come on! I'm sure Uncle Qrow would say the same thing! Besides, you know how excited everyone back home was to hear how you were getting bumped up!"

The silver-eyed girl frowned. "But I'm barely keeping up with my studies!" she pointed out. "I can understand less than half of what our teachers give us!"

"And that's why you have us to help you." Weiss reminded her partner. "As the saying goes, no man's an island." She sat on the other side of Ruby, giving her partner a compassionate pat on the back. "You don't have to do everything by yourself, dunce. There's a reason why the Headmasters have everyone on teams."

"What Ice Queen said!"

Weiss' eyebrow twitched. "...do you want me to stab you, Xiao Long?"

"Aw, you know you love me, Weiss Cream!"

"Ruby, can I stab her?"

A bit better, Ruby giggled. "Later." she promised, much to Yang's mock horror. "A-and...thanks, Weiss."

"Don't mention it." She shook her head. "You're our team leader...of course we'll have your back."

"Thanks..."

"Yeah...who knew you could be so supportive, Weiss?"

The white-haired girl scoffed. "Don't ruin the moment, Yang."

"Oh, come on!" the brawler threw her hands in the air. "What's it take to get some love over here?!"

XXXXXXXXXX

In the last twenty years, it was hard to recognize Menagerie in its current state.

Before, it was a crowded island with most of the population situated along the coastline.

But now? It was a bustling center of commerce and trade.

Unlike many years ago, where it was completely taken by Faunus, there were several humans mixed in with the townsfolk. Lucis' appearance and subsequent relationship with Menagerie had changed it for the better: what used to be a struggling island with an overflow was now a bustling island.

And that wasn't accounting for the occasional good moments in the bar.

"C'mon, newbie." a familiar Kingsglaive said with a grin on his face, coupled with a smug grin and beer in hand. It was none other than Libertus, who had become slightly more overweight if the pudge over his belt was of any indication. "Give up! Nobody's beat Tredd when it comes to drinking!"

The "newbie" was a seventeen-year-old girl with dark red hair, tied back into a ponytail and gray eyes. She wore the standard Glaive uniform, though the coat was open to reveal a tight black shirt that exposed her mid-riff and black cargo jeans with a pouch strapped to her left thigh. At her feet were thick boots. Large freckles were scattered across her skin.

"N-not yet..." Ilia Amitola slurred. "I can...beat this...asshole..."

Luche laughed, hoisting his glass. "Can't say we didn't warn ya." he said. His features were sharper, eyes a hint colder and his hair slicked back, now reaching the nape of his neck. "Least she's got balls."

"And that's the kinda attitude I like to see!" Crowe cheered in agreement. Her hair was now longer and tied up at the back. She was clad in attire that symbolized her status as captain of the Mage unit.

Pelna, now nearing his thirties evident by his newly grow facial hair, laughed. "Let's just hope the bartender doesn't throw us out of here."

As the others cheered on, 32-year-old Tredd brought a beer mug to his face, chugging down the contents and tilting his head back. After five seconds, he slammed it down with a smirk on his face. "That all you got, newb?"

"D-don't...under-underestimate me...I...I can still...*hic*.." Ilia was now swaying in her seat, hiccupping.

Nyx, who had been sitting off to the side with his own mug, rolled his eyes and smiled. "Kids these days." he muttered before he drank the rest of his contents. "Glad today is our day off. If the commander or god forbid the Marshal heard we were drinking in the day, he'd kick our asses."

"Well, perhaps you should be glad about that, Mr. Ulrich."

The Glaive turned to find a woman approaching, carrying a tray with an assortment of drinks and food. She was a cat Faunus due to the cat ears on her head mixed in with her black hair, she also had yellow eyes. She had three gold piercings on her cat ears - two on her right, one on her left. She was wearing a black hakama and sandals with white tabi socks, and over this, she wore a black shrug with a long right sleeve and a short left sleeve, gold leaf trim adorning the opening on the front. She wore long, black arm warmers that extend to the middle finger, the left warmer had a purple band tied around the top and a pair of gold bangles around the wrist around her waist is a black and gold sash that trailed behind her, with a gold flower-shaped buckle at the end.

"Hey, Mrs. Belladonna." Nyx greeted with a smile. "Long time no see!"

Kali Belladonna smiled wryly. "Oh, come now. I've told you a thousand times already! Call me by my first name."

"I would, but ah...I'd rather not risk the Lion maiming my face."

The woman giggled. "Don't worry about Ghira. His bark is worse than his bite...most of the time."

"Most of the time..." the leader of the Glaive's Knife Strike drawled. "I'm filled with confidence here." A loud crash interrupted the festivities. Turning, he found Ilia on the floor, eyes rolled to the back of her head and passed out six ways from Sunday. "And there goes our adorable chameleon recruit."

"I told her she couldn't outdrink Tredd." Libertus shook his head as he helped the girl up.

"Well, you can't say she didn't have spirit." Pelna said with a grin. "She lasted a lot longer than you did, though!"

The man growled. "Ah, fuck off, Pelna!"

XXXXXXXXXX

In Lucis, the influx of people from the Four Kingdoms was quite the sight. It was typical to see an extreme blend of different cultures, but even now, the Commander of the Kingsglaive's Blade Unit, Ghira Belladonna, was still surprised and impressed.

He owed it all to King Regis for all of this to be possible. A Kingdom where humans and Faunus stand equal to one another.

The man was currently sitting in a room, together with another occupant. Compared to how he was years ago, he had certainly increased in both size and body. No longer was there a young brawler in the making. Now, he would be compared to a fierce lion. He grew a rather impressive beard that covered his jaw and his golden eyes bore a fierce intensity to it. His Glaive uniform was different due to his status, as the sleeves were cut short at the forearms and the coat-tail was split open near the waist, causing the fabric to fall on the outer side of his legs. His broad chest was open for all to see, along with a showcase of a few scars - trophies and stories from battling the Lucis wildlife in Duscae and below he wore tight-fitting pants with metal greaves, covering his legs and reaching up to the shin. Sharp tips resembling claws could be found on both the gloves he wore and on his boots.

Across from him was a Faunus like himself: She had orange eyes and wild black hair long enough to reach her chin, a pair of tiger ears on her head that had earrings on them, two on each, as well as two larger earring on her human ears. She also had tattoos on her body that resembled tiger stripes and a red jewel on her forehead. She was dressed with a form fitting black dress with light green accents on the rims of the outfit; the dress left most of her back open and had two long splits on the side which revealed a pair of black shorts, a shorter split in the front and a small squared keyhole. Over the dress she wore a back revealing red cape with gold accents, as well as a green waist cincher with red rims that had a black belt over it, which fastened a green pouch on her right hip. She wore black stockings in conjunction with green sandals that had red laces which were tied to her calfs, as well as a black elbow length fingerless glove on her right hand.

"Every day, I can't help but miss your old jacket." the woman remarked with a small grin. "The Glaive uniform doesn't suit you in the least, Ghira."

The large bear of a man chuckled. "Yes, well...I'm still trying to get used to it." he said as he took a drink from the tea he had prepared earlier. It wasn't as good as his wife's, but it was good enough. Soon after he set it down on the saucer, however, his face turned serious. "Though I wish this meeting was more pleasant, Sienna. I doubt I have to tell you why I called you."

"I know." Sienna Khan, leader of the White Fang splinter cell, sighed. "It's about how violent the Fang in Vale is becoming, right?"

"Correct." He nodded. "The reports of how...tenacious your subordinates have been acting concerns me. I have not approved of your methods, especially given the current state of things."

"I'm fully aware, Ghira." Sienna told him. "But not everyone are like the Lucians. Yes, they've become more open-minded, but many still refuse to see Faunus as living people and not animals. We've endured so much, and while Regis provided us with the equality we so desperately desired, the people of Remnant still remain unforgiving and cold." She took a quick drink of her own beverage before a heavy sigh escaped her lips, eyes downcast. "That being said...you have a right to be concerned. Flaemis...he's slowly becoming more and more violent. Aggressive. And the Anti-Lucian Federation and the White Hoods have not been making things any better."

Ghira's face turned bitter as if he swallowed something sour. "I know that all too well." he said, hands curling into fists. "If this goes on, there is going to be more than just violence, Sienna. If that young man steps out of bounds for even a moment..."

"I understand. Believe me, I will ensure that he will face the dire repercussions of his actions." She replied earnestly.

She knew that force wouldn't truly solve anything...but words would do little. Sometimes, strength was required to get a point across. Ghira understood that, so he allowed her to succeed him. He did disapprove somewhat, especially since her actions had gone too far at times, but they both knew it was the work of their more zealous subordinates. Of course, Sienna knew that there needed to be order. It was why she and Krimzen had collaborated. Yes, she led a splinter cell that was marginally more successful than the group itself, but both adults were capable of controlling their own forces.

However, if her lieutenant continued to grow more violent...then she would need to take action. She couldn't allow Flaemis to make things even worse for their race. His actions had been painting the White Fang, and Faunus in general, as ruthless killers and anarchists.

"Well, enough of that..." Ghira said, directing the conversation elsewhere. "So, tell me, how are things between you and the Prince's guard?"

Sienna nearly choked, eyes wide with cheeks tinged pink. A scowl soon presented itself to her face when she saw the bastard giving her a shit-eating grin. "It is not like that and you know it." she said heatedly. "Nothing is going on between me and Gladiolus!"

"Your face says otherwise."

"Do not test me, Belladonna."

XXXXXXXXXX

Noctis was right on so many levels. The way he moved and spoke definitely made everyone present in the room what in the holy hell their teacher put in his coffee.

Dr. Oobleck had been zipping around the room about as fast as the Glaive could warp.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War-!" One moment the man was standing in front of the entire class. The next he zipped right behind his desk, pointer in hand and tapping the map on the wall. "-humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He zipped back over to the side of his desk, taking a sip of his mug before he returned to being in front of the class.

"Of course, that being said, the events, now commonly referred to as the World Crossing, have substantially lessened the aftereffects! However, don't even think for a second that the results of the War aren't present, even after twenty years!" He took another swing, then dashed around the room once more. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

He paused, taking yet ANOTHER sip of his coffee before zipping over in front of his desk, looking amongst his students. "Now then, who among you suffer from prejudice, subjugation or discrimination because of your Faunus heritage?"

Many students raised their hands. Among them was the second-year that Cardin was bullying earlier. "Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He shook his head in disappointment. "Look no further than the hostilities caused by the White Hoods and the subsequent formation of a splinter group in the White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss would have answered that. It was pretty much common knowledge to her at this point. However, she had another idea in mind and gave Ruby a nudge in the ribs, causing her to squeak. Oobleck immediately focused in on her and she went rigid. "F-Fort Castle!" she answered swiftly. She wasn't sure what scared her more - fear of getting the answer wrong and suffering at the hands of Weiss, or answering the question wrong and suffering detention with this speed demon. Seriously, what does he put in his coffee?

"Excellent answer, miss Rose!" Oobleck grinned before he darted around the room again in blinding speed. "And who among you can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Jaune raised his hand this time. "Their eyes, sir." he answered without hesitation. "All Faunus, by nature, can see in the dark. General Lagune thought he could surprise them in their sleep, unaware that they all have built-in night-vision."

"Wonderful!" the teacher clapped his hands. "An excellent answer, mister Arc! I see you and Miss Rose are keeping up with your studies!"

From behind Jaune's desk, Cardin scoffed. "Oh, please." he said. "What could an animal possibly do?"

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you Cardin?" Pyrrha shot back, causing him to glare at her. "General Lagune lost because he thought exactly the same you had."

Blake smirked next to her, a hand at her chin. "Perhaps if he had paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been recognized as such a failure."

The jab was intentional, even it did go flying over some people's head. Cardin, as thick headed as he was, understandably knew it was meant for him and growled. "What was that, bitch?!"

"Mr. Winchester!" Oobleck snapped, his voice causing the brute to freeze as he stood from his chair, intent on punching the Faunus girl of RWBY. "Enough! You're going to stay after class, so that we can discuss your behavior! Understand?"

Begrudgingly, Cardin returned to his seat, though not before shooting the two women a glare, promising he'd get back at them.

Oobleck's gaze lingered on him before turning to face the rest of the class. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes!" He zipped over to the blackboard where he scribbled a series of words. "As miss Rose and Mister Arc said, General Lagune suffered defeat at Fort Castle precisely because he neglected to learn about the enemy. He underestimated the opposing force, resulting in massive casualties and failure!"

He stopped writing and addressed the class. "Now let this be a lesson to all of you. Never underestimate your foe. Always try to learn as much as you r if you were to fail in battle due to your own negligence...there may not be a second chance."

A grim reminder to be sure, but one that was absolutely necessary. Especially with what lay ahead of one's future. The bell then rang, bringing class to an end.

"That's all for today." he announced as everyone began to gather their things. "Your assignments should be updated on your Scrolls. I expect them first thing tomorrow on my desk! And in COMPLETE sentences, thank you!"

Yang sighed. "Yes, Mr. Oobleck."

"That's DOCTOR Oobleck, Miss Xiao Long! I did not earn a PhD for personal amusement!"

XXXXXXXXXX

By the time night had arrived, most students were already in bed, having either finished their homework assignments or having finished studying. For Jaune, he had completed a nightly training routine and was joined by Pyrrha, who had worked with him. Remembering their conversation on Initiation and how he was trying to perfect his teacher's technique, she aided him in this endeavor. Ren was more focused on helping Nora with her own studies, of course. As for Team RWBY, Weiss and Ruby had gone through a study session together. It was the former's idea in the hopes of keeping her mind occupied and away from Cardin's taunts and jeers. Yang had done a little workout session, and Blake had completed her homework while also spending the night away from a little reading.

As for Team LAPI...

"You're mine!"

Noctis gritted his teeth as the Engine Blade was held over his head, barring Gladio's large greatsword. Sparks flew between them and steel was grinding. While the prince was equally as strong, he preferred being light on his feet and acting quickly. Gladio was a force of nature compared to him, overpowering his foes and crushing them. In this case, Noctis trying to defend against him was quickly becoming harder to do.

Eventually, he dropped his stance and danced around him. The sword vanished into specks of light, soon reforming into a pair of twin daggers. With a flip, they were held underhand and the prince immediately went to counterattack.

He leaped above and started with a spin kick. Gladio blocked it with the flat of his blade, but Noctis used the momentum to bounce off and land in his blind spot.

With a twirl, he slammed his foot into his opponent's knee. If there was anything he learned about his friend, it was that he relied too much on leg strength. His upper body was certainly impressive, but when it came to his legs, they were quite vulnerable. Ignis had stated as much. Gladio cried and bent down, gritting his teeth and leveling a glare at the prince. Just as Noctis was about to follow up, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he sensed something coming up from behind. Immediately he turned around and changed weapons again. This time he brought out a greatsword equal in size to Gladio's own, deflecting the twin blades that would have cut him.

"Not bad, Noct." Ignis grunted as they parted, only for the chef to come in hot on his heels. Noctis cursed the weight of his weapon as he quickly exchanged it for his Engine Blade. "But not good enough. Prompto!"

The sound of a gunshot rang throughout the arena, the Engine Blade shot out of the Prince's hands. He whipped his head around to locate the shooter, but Ignis refused to give him a reprieve.

He came in hot, swinging a knife dangerously close to his face. His magic flared, causing his body to move faster and become cloaked in light. A phantom image made of blue light was cut down, but Ignis, having seen this trick many times, wasn't about to let Noctis go so easily.

He threw one of his daggers over to where the Engine Blade lay. Just as he predicted, Noctis appeared with the blade in hand, and got struck by the small blade.

"Damn!"

At this point, Gladio had recovered from his leg injury and was heading back into the fire.

He hefted his broadsword and swung it over the downed Prince.

Noctis, however, was not about to go down without a fight. Swiftly, he dismissed the Engine Blade in favor of something new. Just as the sword came down on him, a pole had blocked it. On one end of the pole was a sharp blade, identifying it as a spear.

"Get...off!" With a grunt, Noctis pushed Gladio away and spun back up to his feet. Just then, his senses flared up and craned his head in time to dodge another bullet. This time, he was able to find the shooter and grimaced. "Hey, watch it, Prompto! I know we have Aura, but don't make headshots!"

"Don't worry about it! I'm using rubber rounds for this spar!" The blonde called out from where he was positioned.

Before Noctis can argue further, Gladio swung in a diagonal arc, forcing him to duck below the massive blade.

"No getting distracted, Your Highness!" the burly man said with a grin. "After all, we're just getting started!"

"Ugh! Don't I know it."

This had been a daily routine for the four of them. Whenever they went camping in Duscae, they would often spar with each other at night in order to hone their skills and abilities. It was a good way to keep in shape, and according to Ignis, it helped them become closer. Noctis didn't doubt the chef for a moment, but he doubted that was the case. They were already close enough to be practically family by this point. Regardless, despite his own misgivings, he had to admit that sparring like this helped their combat abilities. They learned about each other's strengths and weaknesses and when fighting together they covered them like a tightly knit unit.

They would also be able to devise new tactics to use in battle and practice them against each other.

Ignis had always been the brains of the group. Noctis trusted him without fail, knowing that if anyone knew what to do and how to do it, it would be him. Gladio was like the muscle: he could handle anything you'd throw at him. If someone hit back, he'd hit even harder until they were down for the ten count. Prompto was like the best friend who brought life to the group by his cheerfulness and actions. Case in point, the many many photographs he often took of everyone when given the chance.

He was also their sharpshooter. He was skilled with pretty much every firearm out there, and his skills with a knife aren't too shabby. He was perfect as their mid-range combatant.

As for Noctis?

Well, he didn't really think much of himself. At best, he was the jack-of-all-trades. Having three people who used different weapons to give him pointers helped balance him out. While he favored the simple blade to swing with one hand on occasion, he was proficient with other weapons. Some he learned by using purely by experience.

However, the three Crownsguard didn't see it like that. They saw him as the linchpin of their group. The center. The core.

The was the axis that the entire team dynamic revolved around. They each swore an oath to Noctis to serve and protect him, but it ran even deeper than simple loyalty. They were brothers. Even though they weren't related by blood, their bonds were just as distinct.

It was why they worked so well together. Why they trusted one another.

Team LAPI was more than just a representative of Lucis. Team LAPI was a band of brothers that cared and looked out for each other.

After an intense ten minutes, Noctis had finally reached his limit and collapsed on his back, panting. "You..." he wheezed. "Guys...suck."

"Aw, it wasn't that bad." Prompto argued as he sat on the ground, sweat dripping from his forehead. "I sure as hell got a workout." He turned to Gladio. "You big guy?"

The burly man shrugged, chugging down half a bottle of water he had brought with him. "Eh, I could go another round." he said with a grin. "I got more stamina than you boys."

"Arrogance..." Ignis remarked from his own position, which was on a nearby log. "...is what will be the death of most men."

"Yeesh. Way to be morbid, Iggy. Dinner ready yet?"

The man smiled somewhat. "Almost. Give it another two minutes."

"Good. Cause I'm starving."

Noctis rolled his eyes, sitting upright. "Oh, quit bitching." he said. "God, tomorrow is gonna suck. Ruby and her team's gonna be on that field trip. Where're they going again?"

"Forever Fall. A forest well known for its bright red foliage." Ignis answered. "The leaves of the trees are what make the area appear as a dust-red color, invoking what could be described as a breathtaking sight."

"Aw man...!" Prompto whined. "I wanna go! I wanna snap some pics there!"

"It'd be best not to be so rash. Despite its beauty, the forest is teeming with Grimm. Apparently, they are drawn to the particular sap that the trees produce."

The chef of the group sighed. "A shame. There's a recipe that Cid gave me months back that actually uses that particular kind of sap. I've sampled the delicacy as well."

The three leaned in. "How good we talkin' here, Iggy?"

"On a scale from 1 to 10, 8.3."

"Damn..." Gladio grunted. "If it's really that good, then I want to try some..."

Noctis then got an idea. "Say...do you guys think we can sneak on board with the other teams on their trip tomorrow?"

"Doubt it..." The Crownsguard scoffed. "Professor Goodwitch is chaperoning, and I'd rather not get on her bad side..." The Prince looked up in thought. "...as much as it'd be worth it."

Prompto sighed. "As much as I'd like to test our luck...let's not and say we did." His face then lit up, holding up his camera. "So, who wants to see some photographs?!"

It was moments like these that truly made Noctis' life all the more enjoyable as Noctis Lucis Caelum and not the prince of Lucis.

XXXXXXXXXX

The following day, the first year students of Beacon Academy had gathered on a Bulkhead and left the school. The trip was mostly peaceful, what with everyone making small talk. Once they arrived, their breaths were completely and utterly stolen away.

For thousands of miles, the foliage and grass of the bloody forest painted the landscape a dusty red. As the leaves fluttered from their branches, one could mistake them for crimson snowflakes. The morbid yet beautiful sight lasts continuously all year round.

Hence the name, Forever Fall.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." Glynda said as she walked ahead of the group while they trailed behind her. Eventually, she turned to face them, expression stern and cold, practically daring any troublemaker to start something. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." She produced a small glass jar from her person. Inside was opaque, cherry red liquid that sloshed around inside.

Those closest to the teacher caught a whiff of the scent the sap gave off and salivated. Especially a certain pancake-obsessed hammer girl. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock."

The smile she gave them was anything but pleasant. "Have fun."

Due to the warning, she gave them all previously...they took those words with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, the students groups up and split off to nearby trees to fill their jars.

Shortly afterwards, everyone went about collecting the jars of sap. Cardin, for his part, was actually fairly docile. He had not made any snide remarks whatsoever and he hadn't tried to do anything to anyone.

And that was because of what he had in store for a certain Glaive wannabe and that so-called Untouchable Girl.

"You guys remembered the rapier wasps, right?" he asked, turning to Russel who gave an uneasy look. IN his hands was a box that was trembling slightly. If one listened closely, there was a buzzing sound coming inside of it. Seeing this, the brute smirked. "All we need is a few jars of sap, and we're golden."

Sky frowned. "How many do you think we need?"

"A good two or three should do the trick."

"A-are we seriously gonna do this?" Russel asked, somewhat fearful. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I know what the score is here, but...what if we get caught? We're gonna get more than detention here, Cardin!"

The Leader of CRDL scoffed. "Oh, man up, Rus. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Says you! You know how my family is! If they find out I did something like this-!"

"They won't." he said coolly. "Just have some faith in me, man."

He knew what he was doing. They can get this done and no one would realize it was them. Piece of cake.

XXXXXXXXXX

"H-Hurrrrgh...agh! Got it!"

Ruby yelled with triumph as she cut through the bark with the knife, causing the red sap to flow and pour down the bark. Yang giggled at her enthusiasm as she placed the jar against the bark, collecting the dripping fluid.

Jaune stabbed Crocea Mors into the bark of the tree and yanked it out, causing the sap to ooze out of the hole. He filled his jar, then filled Pyrrha's.

Off to the side, Ren was filing his and Nora's. After he filled up his, he handed it to Nora before he went back to the flow of sap and filling up Nora's. After three seconds, he turned and held it out for her to take, only to pause and stare with annoyance when he found his jar empty and red smears around Nora's goofy smile.

"It's very quiet out." Blake remarked as she made a small cut in the bark, proceeding to fill her jar. "If it weren't for the Grimm, this would make for a lovely place for a picnic."

Weiss nodded in agreement. "Yeah." she said. The Faunus finished her load and handed it to Weiss to take before beginning to fill the second jar. "However, there is something that has me a bit worried."

Blake paused a bit, turning to the heiress. "Like what?"

"Cardin." The girl blinked, not expecting that. "Ever since school began, he's made an ass of himself to everyone on top of harassing second-year students like Velvet. And yet he's been unusually quiet today." Weiss bit her thumb, chewing somewhat on her nail. "I just have a bad feeling is all."

Blake smiled thinly. "I think you're just paranoid." she told her teammate. "You really think Cardin is stupid enough to try and start something here? With Grimm roaming around and Ms. Goodwitch here?"

"I suppose not. I doubt anyone is THAT suicidal."

"Here." Blake held out a newly-filled glass jar. "Here's yours."

"Thanks."

XXXXXXXXXX

"You found 'em, yet?" Cardin asked, peering over a small ledge that oversaw a good portion of the clearing where Teams RWBY and JNPR were. He and Sky were looking for the blonde knight and Pyrrha Nikos, knowing that, being the goody-two-shoes people they are, they would be close by their friends.

After a few seconds, Sky nodded. "Yeah. Right over there." He pointed to the far left side. Near the edge of the clearing was a familiar mop of yellow locks, gathering sap from the tree while his partner was defending said sap from Nora. "Sheesh, talk about carefree." A concerned look crossed his face as he looked at Cardin in worry. "Hey, we sure this'll work? I mean, rapier wasps are one thing, but what if they attract Grimm? Won't that be kind of bad?"

"What?" Cardin snapped. "Backing out?"

"Hell no. I'm actually enjoying this field trip." he rebuked. "I just don't want to ruin it by siccing some Grimm on the poor bastards."

"They'll be fine. They're huntsmen in training, ain't they? Plus, Professor Goodwitch is here in case things get dicey." Cardin reminded.

"I guess..." Sky shook his head. "What about Russ? Think he might back out? He's been really skittish."

"He's just worried that if anyone finds out about this, his parents'll flip."

"Oh. He's one of those tips?" SKy snickered. "Lame."

XXXXXXXXXX

"All done here." Ruby said as she sealed up the last of the glass jars. "This should be enough, right?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah, seems about." she said, smiling a bit. "Man, if teach lets us keep some of it, we should bring it back to that Ignis guy Noct and Prompto hang out with. I heard 'em mention that he's a killer cook!"

"Really?!" Nora exclaimed as she raced over to the blonde. "Think he can make good pancakes?!"

"We'll see, Nora." Ren told her as he approached. He then gave the girl a small glare of disapproval. "Also...can you please stop eating the sap?"

"Tee-hee~ Sorry, Renny!" the hyper girl saluted with her usual grin. Team JNPR then moved to another part of the forest to re-fill their now empty jars…again.

Ruby giggled a bit. She had to admit, despite what Nora insisted, she couldn't help but see the two as something of a couple. 'Speaking of couples, I wonder if Noct and Luna are together yet.'

From what she remembered as a kid, it was pretty evident the young Prince had a crush on the Princess of Tenebrae. And it seemed like Lunafreya reciprocated those feelings.

Even though Luna was technically older. Then again, from what her dad told her, he was a year or so younger than her mom was, so she didn't think it could be that surprising.

'Speaking of Luna, I wonder how she's doing?' Ruby thought innocently, looking up at the cherry red treetops above her. 'I know Noct's been doing pretty okay, since we go to the same school and all, but I don't think I've heard him talk about her yet. Maybe when we get back, I...'

She trailed off when she looked off to the side, eyes catching movement. At first, she thought it was a Beowolf. Her hands tensed up, inching to Crescent Rose but soon relaxed, seeing that it was Russel from Team CRDL.

"H-Hey guys..." He greeted, his hands raised to show he meant no harm.

"What are you doing here?" Weiss asked with a scrutinizing gaze. "Shouldn't you be with your team?"

"That's...actually what I came to tell you all about..."

Everyone glanced at each other, then back at Russel. The guy was somewhat anxious, occasionally looking around. Ruby saw his gaze center on something and turned. It was hard to see, but she found three people huddled near a ledge that overlooked the clearing. They were too far away, but she could tell their attention was focused elsewhere. She turned back to Russel.

"Russel, is there something going on?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"We've got the sap ready." Dove said, handing Cardin a jar. The brute smirked, tossing it a bit in his hand. "If I remember right, rapier wasps just can't help themselves to anything that smells sweet." A snicker escaped the boy's mouth, clearly going to enjoy the sight that would happen in a few moments. "Man, I can't wait to see how they look, pelted and stung all over."

"All in due time." Sky smirked before he noticed the missing presence of their second team member. "Where's Russ? Did he actually chicken out?"

"Should we go looking for him?"

Cardin shook his head. "Don't bother." he said. "If he wants to not get involved, then whatever. Besides, probably better. This way, the only thing his parents will have to worry about their troublemaker son is just his grades."

Contrary to what most people would think, Cardin didn't actually think anything bad about Russel. In fact, he liked the guy. Both had overbearing parents, but unlike himself, Russel worked hard to get where he was. There was even a bit of respect. Plus, if he was being honest, he was glad the guy wasn't here. If they did get into trouble, it would be better for him to stay out of it. The brute already knew he had trouble going along with their pranks and bullying, meaning that, compared to the three of them, he was pretty much a saint.

Plus, he didn't have any beef with the two bastards in his sights. Cardin most certainly did.

So there was no reason to drag Russel into this mess if he didn't want to.

That was fine by him. This was his payback and his alone.

He stood and aimed his jar where the blonde dork and girl were. In just a minute, they will be in quite the sticky situation...

It was over his head, arm reared back. In a few seconds, they would-

*BANG!*

A gunshot shattered the jar in his head, dumping the contents all over him. "What the?!" Whirling on his feet, his eyes widened for a moment before a ferocious growl settled on his face. "Y-you...you little shit!"

Ruby, holding Crescent Rose in rifle form, glared in disgust. "First off, swear. Secondly, do NOT mess with my buddies!"

The girl was upset. She had every right to be. The bully was just about to drench her friends in tree sap, and if the buzzing from the box was any indication, was going to sic Rapier Wasps on them.

'I can't believe THIS is the kind of person Russel got partnered with!'

XXXXXXXXXX

 _(Flashback: three minutes ago)_

 _"THEY WANT TO DO WHAT?!"_

 _Russel's eyes widened in panic, looking back at the ledge before turning to the girls. "Keep it down!" he hissed. "You want Cardin to hear you?"_

 _The mohawk-haired teen had told Team RWBY what the rest of his team planned to do. Suffice to say, they did not take it well._

 _"That brute!" Weiss hissed. "He's going too far this time!"_

 _"Cardin's always been really proud that he got into Beacon like this." Russel said in vain, trying to either convince them or himself that his leader was a good person though it sounded rather weak, even to himself. "Jaune showing him up, and Ruby here getting in two years early...he feels like his pride's been hurt. I can understand petty revenge, but...I-I just think he's going WAY too far with a prank like this."_

 _"You got that right..." Yang growled as she cracked her knuckles. It was time to bust some heads._

 _"But why are you telling us this?" Blake questioned. "Why us and not Professor Goodwitch? Better yet, why didn't you stop them in the first place?"_

 _"I couldn't even if I tried..." Russel shook his head. "They're all pretty stubborn, and nothing's gonna convince them otherwise. And i_ _f I told Miss Goodwitch, t-then..."_ _He involuntarily shuddered. Just thinking about what could happen terrified the shit out of him._

 _The girls understood then why he was reluctant. They looked at one another and nodded._

 _Cardin was not going to get away with this._

 _XXXXXXXXXX_

(End of Flashback)

"For someone who thinks he's top dog here at Beacon," Yang's lilac eyes turned crimson as the bands around her wrists clicked and whirred together, expanding and wrapping around the back of her hands to form her Ember Celica. "You really are nothing but a school yard bully, Cardin."

Blake nodded in agreement. "And idiotic, at that." she added, causing the brute's face to become scrunched up with anger. "Then again, what else do you expect?"

"Shut up!" The large teen growled as he pulled out his mace. "You girls just don't get it!"

"Get what, pray tell?" Weiss hissed. "All I get is that your just a sore loser!"

"What was that?!" He snapped. His other team mates prepared themselves for a fight as well. Sky pulled out his halberd while Dove unsheathed his sword.

The girls readied their weapons, knowing that a fight was about to brew.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, I think that's the last of it." Jaune said, fastening the cap onto the jar before placing it with the rest of the filled containers in the box. "All Nora-proofed and filled to the brim."

"I can still hardly believe she ate six jars worth of sap." Pyrrha sweat-dropped, looking at a somewhat dazed Nora as she rested against a tree, rubbing her belly and letting out a belch. "Where on Earth does she put it all?"

"She's always had a fast metabolism." Ren answered. "When we were kids, she practically ate everything edible in sight."

"Seriously? Man, and here I thought my oldest sister had an appetite."

Pyrrha was similar in agreement. She was perhaps a bit envious of the fact that Nora was able to maintain such a slim physique, despite being such a glutton. Surely so many pancakes would have made her fat. Even so, she remained skinny and slim. She glanced down at her own figure with a bit of a frown. The only reason she remained so fit was because of her daily training. On the downside, though, she had developed a few muscles, something she feared would be a bit of a turn off with Jaune.

Wait, what was she thinking? Sure, she liked him as a friend, but not in that way. Besides, why would Jaune care if she had a few muscles of her own? If anything, she figured he would be impressed. Of course, it didn't really hold a candle to his own physique.

A pleasuring shock ran down her spine, her heart speeding up when she walked in on Jaune after he emerged from the shower, utterly topless.

She supposed it was thanks to his training with the Glaive Commander. But even so, she did not expect to have a build like that.

She had seen quite a few excellent abdominal muscles and pectorals, courtesy of a few boys trying to impress her. But Jaune's?

There wasn't really any competition. That, and it didn't help the fact that Jaune was quite handso-

'WILL YOU STOP?!' She screamed at herself, cheeks tinged red. 'HE'S A FRIEND! JUST A FRIEND! QUIT PERVING! WHAT ARE YOU, YANG?!'

She shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts.

As she tried to banish any impure thoughts, Pyrrha noticed something. "Hey." she called out to her team. "Where did Ruby and the others go?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Cardin roared as he swung his mace in an arc, something Ruby easily predicted as she fired off a round, bouncing into the air with the recoil and spinning about in the air before slashing at Cardin's exposed backside, causing him to stumble. As she landed in a crouch, she quickly switched to rifle form and shot two rounds. One missed, and the other struck his leg, causing him to crumble and fall to the ground. A yell came from behind her just as she was about to celebrate, turning just in time to see Blake dash in a burst of light and appear in front of her, Gambol Shroud barring Dove's sword.

"Get back!" Blake threw him away with a shrug, swinging her sword around before switching it to its more agile shape, attached to the black band. She felt a bit stiff, having not used Warp in a while, but she wasn't about to let it dissuade her. Dove swung his sword diagonally, aiming for her shoulder. Blake deftly dodged, tilting her body to the side and performing a cartwheel away from him. Once in distance, she threw the weapon in its gun-scythe form, hitting Dove's sword and causing him to lose his group. As her weapon recoiled, she pulled back and spun around, swinging it with her in the process and slashing him across the chest.

This caused Dove to take a step back, now vulnerable. Recovering, he made a move to grab his sword only for a boot to step on the blade. Looking up, he was greeted with both a punch and Dust slug shell to the face, knocking him straight off his feet and onto his back.

Sky rushed in past his downed teammate to strike the blonde brawler. Yang ducked beneath the overhead swing and delivered an uppercut to his open torso, sending him a few feet off the ground.

He rolled off of his back, getting to his knees and hands. Before he could get up to his feet, he suddenly found his legs and hands encased in ice. Beneath him was a dancing white rune, courtesy of one Weiss Schnee.

The heiress flicked her wrist as a series of glyphs manifested around him, each one exuding a white mist.

"Crap crap crap!" Sky panicked, trying to pry himself free from the ice.

It was futile. Soon, the ice began to crawl up his arms and encasing everything up to his hips and shoulders.

"One down." she remarked, lowering her arm. However, she did not relax. She turned her head to see Cardin already up, raising his mace above his head. Acting quickly, Weiss side-stepped his attack, letting his attack slam into the ground before delivering a stab to his side. It barely fazed him as he growled and backhanded, knocking her back a bit. Weiss then braced herself as Cardin swung again. Her rapier defended against the attack, but it soon gave way to pressure and she was off her feet.

Before Cardin could knock her out and free Sky, he found two boots slamming into his face. Blake bounced off of him, landing on the ground on all fours while the brute clambered back up to his feet, rubbing his face. "Lucky shot." he grimaced before twirling his mace around. The spikes on it began to twist and click together, the faces of his weapon splitting open before the top cracked apart into separate plates, revealing a muzzle. "Let's see you handle this, freak!"

The muzzle began to glow as heat generated in the gaps. He slammed the blunt weapon down, the head cracking the earth as a molten wave rushed toward the Cat Faunus. Blake leaped out of the line of fire to avoid the attack, but Cardin was not going to let her go. He slammed the ground, again and again, releasing wave after wave of blazing earth.

When one wave got too close, her Semblance flared and a shadow copy of herself perished in her place. Escaping his range, she closed her eyes and sucked in her breath. "C'mon, remember what Crowe taught you. Breath in. Concentrate. Think of power flowing naturally." she whispered, stretching out her hand.

She focused on the energy within her body. In the next few moments, she felt it.

It felt as if she were light. As if her feet would come off the ground any second and she'd never feel the earth again. Her skin tingled as if touching something that sent a jolt up her spine. A cool breeze wrapped around her hands, spinning and collecting while forming into a miniature ball of ferocity. Cardin had chosen to smash the ice keeping Sky pinned and then pulled him up. The two then charged in, intending on flanking her from either side and taking her own at the same time.

It was time they got acquainted with a Glaive from the Mage Unit.

She flung her arms outward, unleashing a fierce gale that stopped the two males in their tracks like an invisible wall. With a flick of her wrists, the gusts picked up, forcing them away.

The males were ripped off the ground, flying straight the air and screaming before they came crashing down, right into the Earth.

Cardin groaned, rubbing the back of his neck after having landed right on his head. He could have sworn he heard it crack. Groggily, he looked up and found his mace lying ahead of him. He reached out to grab it...only for a red scythe to impede his progress. He craned his head, soon finding a pair of silver eyes glaring at him.

"Don't. Even." Ruby warned, cocking the chamber of her weapon and releasing a spent shell. Looking around, Cardin found Sky restrained by Weiss and Blake while Dove found himself staring down a particularly dangerous looking Yang Xiao Long. Gulping, he looked back at Ruby. "You've got two choices, Cardin. Either try and pick a fight...or wait for Ms. Goodwitch to come. Choice is all yours."

XXXXXXXXXX

Elsewhere in the forest, a black-masked figure clad in white stood in the midst of a clearing. His hands were in his trousers, eyes gazing out past the shadows of the forest as if he were looking at something.

He was not alone.

Scattered around him were giant containers, all of which shaking and trembling while squeals and whines and howls roared inside each and every one of them, shaking violently as their occupants tried to escape. He would admit that he found himself mildly impressed. It took pain-staking measures to try and capture Grimm without them dissipating, and the fact that someone had captured so many was a feat unto itself.

Then again, given that he had helped this person acquire these subjects, it was only natural. Turning to his companion, he spoke in a low yet menacing tone, voice heavily filtered. "Is this all of the subjects?"

"Yes." his companion said with a wide grin. "These are what I like to refer to as the Phase 1 Subjects. Prototypes, if you'll excuse the term. In truth, I have little use for them. I was actually contemplating erasing them when you called me." The companion gave a small laugh. "I MUST thank you and Sir Ardyn! Without the two of you, my research of the Grimm has exceeded beyond leaps and bounds!"

"Save your excitement, good doctor." the masked man told him. "After all, you've yet to show me any progress regarding the Phase 2 subjects."

"All in good time, my dear man. Besides, before I can begin further testing with the subjects, I require data." The companion's smile turned dark. "Data that can easily be acquired by what happens next. Out of curiosity, though...if you intend to attack the students, why did you ask for only Boartusks, Creeps and Beowolves? Would not a King Taijitsu or a Beringel sufficed?"

The masked man chuckled, taking out a remote. "As you said, good doctor. We need data." His thumb brushed against the button, wiping away a few specks of dust and dirt before placing his digit firmly against it. "And what better way to test these prototypes...than to sic 'em on a bunch of poor innocent children?"

He pressed the button. Instantly, every cage that housed Grimm were open. The moment the shutters were undone, they escaped their cages and stood out.

And they were not ordinary Grimm, either.

They had ebony bodies with ivory armor like the rest of their kind. But their forms held more bulk. Their black flesh had bright, green veins that pulsated every so often. On their backs were spikes. But instead of the bony, sharp protrusions, they were green, glowing, crystalline spires. Their eyes were the same shade holding malice and madness within. Their behavior was also much more feral than their normal brethren.

They just got released from their containment units, and some of them had already killed one another.

The masked man could only laugh. He considered them failures already...but that was fine. He extended a hand, letting an accursed black wave extend out from his hand and washing over the feral, mutated monsters before him.

They were now docile and calm, staring at him obediently and patiently.

"...there are children here in this forest." the man said. "Find them...and kill them."

In unison, the demented beasts howled, hissed, and grunted in compliance. They then rushed out into the woods like an organized unit, leaving the clearing quiet once more.

Of course, it was but the mere calm before the storm.

Before long, things were going to be bloody. And he was going to quite enjoy the symphony that would soon be screaming across the forest for any in the vicinity to hear.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Bloom,** Fall **and Gracefully Scatter**


	13. Chapter 13

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, Digimon D-Code: Error of Hades, Metastability, The Taken King, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Pendulum's Fifth Swing.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter VII: Bloom, Fall, and Gracefully Scatter**

"Cardin tried to do WHAT?"

Weiss gave him a curt nudge in the ribs at his outburst. "Quiet!" she hissed at Jaune. "You want to announce our presence to the Grimm?!"

"S-sorry." the blonde knight apologized, rubbing his side before his face fell into a frown. "But, he actually tried to do something like that? Has he no shame whatsoever?"

"I don't think so." Blake answered. "The only reason we found out was because of Russel. He found us and told us what Cardin had planned for you two."

Pyrrha's mouth was sent into a firm line, folding her arms beneath her breasts. "Unbelievable..." she muttered, completely disgusted. "His abilities were worthy of being a Huntsmen, but he used those talents for personal gain and even tormented his fellow peers. How does a person even think of doing something so shamefully? Especially when it puts people at risk?!"

"Believe it or not, there are always going to be people like that." Ren answered morbidly. "People who use their talents for personal gain and lack compassion for those they deem inferior."

"But that doesn't make it right!"

"No. No it does not."

No one felt sorry for Cardin in the least bit, or held any respect for him. If they did have any, it vanished. He was willing to put the safety of several students at jeopardy just to get petty revenge on them simply for bruising his selfish pride. He had never taken into account what might have happened if a Grimm had managed to escape Glynda and ran rampant. In the end, though, he was nothing more than a short-sighted fool.

It was VERY refreshing to inform Goodwitch about this once they apprehended him. She had temporarily left to put Team CRDL to the Bulkhead, where they would be returning to Beacon Academy for their due punishment.

"Man, thanks to Cardin, this trip kinda feels dull now." Yang groaned. "I already miss Noct and the others."

Ruby giggled. "You're just saying that because you still have a cr-"

"Finish that sentence, Ruby, and I'm not making any more cookies for you."

"EEP!"

Weiss sweatdropped. "What in the world are you all talking about?" she questioned, seeing the utterly serious look on the blonde brawler's face. Shaking her head, she turned to Blake, only to notice the serious look on her face. "Blake? Is something the matter?"

The black-themed girl had kept her eyes on the forest, her cat ears twitching madly while her hand slowly drifted back to Gambol Shroud. "...something's coming." she informed. Immediately, Ruby ceased her cowardice and looked to her friend, eyes demanding an answer. "I think it's Grimm."

"How many?" Weiss asked.

"Hard to say. Too many footsteps."

Jaune's eyes narrowed. Within earshot, the two teams could hear the sounds of twigs snapping and snarls and growls becoming closer. He pulled Crocea Mors from its sheath while Ren withdrew his Storm Flower. Nora brandished her weapon, as did Pyrrha, shield and spear at the ready. Yang cracked her knuckles as Ember Celica wrapped around her wrists, primed and ready for action, just as Crescent Rose was as it unfurled in Ruby's hands. Weiss and Blake grasped their weapons, taking on a fighting stance.

Several tense seconds passed as the sounds drew closer. Ruby gave a quick check of her ammo before loading the chamber. Weiss twirled the chamber of her rapier, shfiting Dust for a more favorable style of hers. Blake kept her eyes trained on the forest shadows, able to find the Grimm approaching. Her eyes soon widened with what she saw.

"What in the-"

Then they emerged in their full, malformed and demented glory, a Beowolf with Green Crystals sprouting from its body emerging at the head of the pack and rearing back a howl as if to signal its appearance.

And its cry was far worse than any they've ever heard.

*GWROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR~!*

The lone roar summoned a burst of air and shook the earth beneath its feet. Following it were various other types of Grimm. From Ursai, to other Beowolves, to Boarbatusks, to even Creeps. They all resembled the lead Beowolf as they were clad in green crystals, and seemed to be just as powerful if some of them knocking down trees without any effort was any indication.

The worst part, the attention of every last beast was trained on the group of Huntsmen in training. Their green eyes screamed murder.

The lead Beowolf howled again, this time in their direction. A gust of air blew past them from the reverberating cry.

"What the hell?!" Yang shouted in surprise, having never seen these type of Grimm before. "The heck are they?!"

"Fight now, talk later!" Jaune called back. "Here they come!"

As a cohesive unit, the mutated Grimm charged with the intent to slaughter.

The heavy hitters of the group met the vanguard of the pack head on while those with ranged weaponry stuck to the back to provide covering fire.

Jaune battled with an Ursai that came lumbering at him, paws extended. With each strike, he defended with a shield, though not without difficulty. His legs buckled, straining to withstand the brute force. He rolled underneath another swing, slashing at its hind leg. He cut through flesh, as he expected, but his eyes widened when he saw some sort of dark greenish-black substance ooze out of the wound.

'It can bleed?!'

That was a far as he thought before he found himself struck and thrown off his feet by a powerful swing.

Ruby and the mutated Beowolf danced. Rose petals danced in the air as Ruby attempted to fight her adversary, dashing around and shooting in mid-air while also striking at it with her scythe. Like the Ursa, it also bled, though Ruby was too busy to notice that detail. Rather, she was more astounded by the creature's endurance. She came at it from behind, going in to strike off its head, though to her surprise it released a howl, causing the green spikes on its body to grow and block the oncoming strike. The blow deflected, leaving Ruby to stumble back in confusion.

"W-what?" she stammered, unsure of what just happened before the Beowolf came at her with a claw ready to strike. She quickly dashed away, evading it and resumed shooting.

Yang, meanwhile, danced with a mutated Ursa of her own. Like Jaune, she also struggled.

Every time the beast's paw came swinging in, she either ducked beneath it before counterattacking, or met the strike with one of her own.

She felt her arms tremble from the sheer amount of kinetic energy packed into each attack. The Ursa was much stronger than any she fought before. It was hitting an immovable object, for each of her shotgun-fueled punches did not seem to produce any lasting damage. Even the kinetic energy rounds seemed to bounce off its tough hide.

In regards to the Mistral Champion, Pyrrha was performing slightly better. Keyword being slightly.

The Creep was far more agile compared to its lesser bretheren. It was quick on its feet and constantly diving into the ground, keeping her on her toes. She it emerged, she jumped back to avoid a spinning green spiky ball that would have surely done serious damage. Nora assisted her, keeping it at bay with her hammer and striking it away, but the power behind its tackles had nearly thrown her off.

Ren, meanwhile, assisted Yang, however good it did. Weiss was providing support with Jaune as he fought his own Ursai, but even with their combined efforts, they barely seemed able to put a dent in it.

"What kind of Grimm are they?!" Weiss gritted her teeth as she leaped back, avoiding a power stomp that would have thrown her on her back and left open. "I've never heard of them growing crystals on their back!"

"Apparently, these ones bleed!" Jaune added. "Whatever they are, they aren't normal!"

"Less talking!" Yang shouted over the sound of her Ember Celica letting loose at close range, staggering the mutated Ursai a bit before delivering a blow that forced it on its back, only to roll back unto its stomach and glare daggers at her. "More killing!"

"Easier said than done!" Ruby yelped as she ducked underneath a swing that would've taken her head off. She twirled and aimed Crescent Rose at the Beowolf's knee and pulled he trigger. A sniper round pierced through the flesh and forced the beast to kneel.

Left vulnerable, she aimed to lop off its head, only for it to catch the scythe with its teeth, teeth grinding into the blade before lifting its head up, pulling Ruby along with it and throwing her around like a rag doll. "Aaaah! Somebody heeeelp mee!"

"I'm coming!" Blake cried as she rushed her way over. However, her path was intercepted by a Boarbatusk rolling towards her. She jumped out of the way and rolled to her feet. The mutated beast changed direction to circle back.

Its green spikes grew sharper, ripping up the ground in its approach. Bracing herself, she removed her blade from her person and struck in defense, only to be overwhelmed and thrown to the ground.

The Grimm spun back around to finish her off. But Blake threw her weapon towards an overhead branch and warped out of the way.

Her body reappeared in a flicker of light, grabbing a hold of the branch. The Boartusk, meanwhile, slammed into a tree, finding it stuck on the tree with its crystals digging into the bark. Acting quickly, she pulled out a metal ball with red glowing markings.

"I know the Captain said to use 'em sparingly, but..."

She gave a small shrug. She was sure he would understand, especially in this situation. She tossed the ball at the Grimm, and then leaped off the branch, bouncing off the trunk of another tree and leaping into the air, catching an airborn Ruby once she had lost her grip on her Crescent Rose.

The ball touched the mutated Boartusk's exposed belly, and in the next second, it was engulfed in fire.

The boar-like Grimm squealed in agony as flames consumed it. It thrashed about, but was unable to snuff out the flames. The fire soon spread to the tree it was stuck in. Soon enough, the trunk broke off at the base and fell on top of the Boarbatusk, crushing it.

The flames were quickly beginning to grow and spread. In seconds, a good portion of the clearing was lit ablaze, smoke filling the air.

"We can't fight like this..." Blake frowned, looking at her leader. "You okay?"

"No..." Ruby shook her head in dismay, her gaze locked on the discard Crescent Rose. The Beowolf's glare was locked on her. "I can't fight without my weapon."

Blake became slackjawed, almost in disbelief, before shaking her head. The Beowolf let out another powerful roar and charged at the two girls, scooping up Crescent Rose and tossing it at them. Ducking underneath the swinging scythe, Blake crouched and used Gambol Shroud to snatch it in the air, twirling it and sending it flying at the mutated wolf monster.

It struck true, stunning the Beowolf for a moment before Ruby used this opportunity to jump up and grab the scythe, releasing several rounds. Blake followed up with a quick series of slashes. In anger, the unusual Beowolf swung its claw. It struck, but Blake's body dissipated into black that soon faded away.

She materialized directly below the mutated beast and swung her blade upward. The black metal tore into the beast's flesh and carved a jagged, vertical scar. The Beowolf reeled from the deep wound, but it was short lived as Ruby hooked the crook of her scythe around its throat and pulled the trigger. The weapon jerked and the Grimm's head was sent flying, green blood splattering everywhere.

As the body fell to the ground, the crystals on its back began to crack and break down, slowly becoming dust blowing in the wind. Yet, somehow, the body remained.

"It's still here?" Ruby voiced her confusion from the observation. "Why didn't it break down?"

Her musings were interrupted as a crash resounded not too far from them. The source? Nora slamming her hammer on top of a Creep's head.

"We can worry about that later!" Blake advised as she rushed back into the fight. "We need to take care of these guys first!"

XXXXXXXXXX

If Pyrrha and Nora were having trouble dealing with something as simple as a Creep, then Yang and Ren were making little headway with their mutated Ursai.

The beast was capable of matching Yang blow for blow, even with her semblance. And the bullets Ren has been shooting barely had any effect.

Her fighting style had always been reckless, but it was the most effective way to get an edge. She rarely needed to dodge, just withstand the blows coming her way and let the damage amp up her strikes. In time, she'd be throwing sucker punches that could knock off even a Goliath's head. She never had to worry about anyone overpowering her except for her father and uncle.

The mutated Ursai, however, was another story altogether.

While she was able to tank the blows, the attacks held more force than she bargained for. She could feel her Aura drain gradually with each strike. While her own strikes grew in strength due to the sustained damage, her reserves were dwindling. It would be bad if the battle dragged out any further, especially when there are still more in the mob to face.

A heavy paw came down on her. She brought up both arms, blocking the strike while her feet caused the ground beneath to crack due to the pressure. Groaning from the absurd strength, Yang tried to push back as her lilac eyes slowly began to turn red.

She flung the limb upward and delivered a series of shot-gun powered punches to the Grimm's exposed belly.

Each blow caused the large belly to ripple, but overall the creature didn't seem too fazed. Soon, Yang's barrage grew in speed. Slowly, the Ursa was being pushed back. Grinding her teeth and slamming her foot down, Yang threw the best right hook she could into it's stomach. The blow created a shockwave that actually knocked it back, stumbling away from her and leaving it open for Ren to strike. Rather than shoot blindly, he instead went for the obvious choice: slashing at its eyes.

The cut went straight through the eyeballs, given that the Grimm was utterly unprotected there. It let out a pained roar, one paw at its face and the other swinging wildly.

As it flailed he continued to move around the beast, cutting away at any exposed flesh. "Yang!" he shouted. "Aim for the cuts!"

"Got it!" She cocked Ember Celica and fired a succession of kinetic energy rounds. The projectiles impacted the gashes Ren made on the Ursa's body, causing further internal damage.

The exposed wounds were the chinks in the armor that Yang had been looking for. She still had to dodge the Ursai's flailing limb as it tried to defend itself, but she was not about to let the opportunity go to waste. Her strength was already amped up, so the damage was quickly becoming apparent. Bit by bit, the small cuts grew to become welts. With each punch, skin began to break apart. With each fist striking at flesh, green fluids began to splash against her fists. She paid no mind and continued to punch until she rallied her strength into one final blow.

Sucking a breath, she channeled her Aura and condensed it into a single point: her right fist. Cocking her fist back, tensing her muscles, and diverting her power into a single point of impact, she rammed her fist into one of the openings in its belly. As soon as her fist touched it, Ember Celica released a shot.

Then its stomach blew open, spewing giblits of flesh and goo and chunks of crystal. The Ursa remained motionless before it fell to the side with a heavy thud, causing the ground to shudder for a moment.

"...well." she said tiredly, panting a bit as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "That was a helluva thing."

Ren nodded in agreement, equally as tired and as injured as she was before he looked at the Grimm. "Odd... Normally, the Grimm just dissipate. This one isn't."

"Actually, now that you mention it..."

The sound of battle cries and gunfire rung into the air, reminding them that they were not alone.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Will!"

*smack*

"You!"

*smash*

"Just!"

*boom*

"Die!"

*boom*

"Already?!"

Pyrrha had to admit. For once, she wholeheartedly agreed with Nora's enthusiastic and otherwise demented mind. This Creep was becoming increasingly annoying and unbearable to the point where she had never felt so much hate in all her life. This Grimm was so vastly different compared to its usual kin. It hid underground like the others, striking from below when you least expected it or lashing at you with its tail.

She found them easy to deal with, though. She waited for the smallest signal - tiny sounds from below and the dirt shifting beneath her feet and whatnot - for striking when they were most vulnerable. She'd even go so far as to call them the weakest of the bunch, not counting the tiny Nevermores. Unless they were in flocks, of course. Or Lancers.

She shuddered at that last one. She HATED bees. Bee-like Grimm only made it worse.

This Creep, however, was so vastly different. It had defied all logic whatsoever. Yes, it burrowed underground, but when it striked, there was no warning. No shifting of dirt. No tiny sounds. No, it was as abrupt as lightning. Popping out at the very last second and catching you with your pants down.

She did not like that.

"Nora!" she shouted as she ran at it, her spear shifting into sword form. "Cover me!"

"Okay!" The hyperactive ginger nodded as she shifted her hammer into its grenade launcher form. As the Creep tried to move, she pulled the trigger and released an explosive round to keep it in place.

Even the powerful blows from the grenades didn't seem to do much, which only added to Pyrrha's irritation. She needed to find some way to do some real damage. Her eyes focused on the most unusual features: the crystals on its back.

Every time the Creep popped out of the earth, the glow seemed to die out a bit before re-igniting. She wasn't sure of what the pattern was supposed to represent, but a theory was beginning to form.

Grimm didn't have crystals growing from their backs, of that she definitely knew. They were quite unusual. However, the way they glowed whenever it was on the attack was definitely a telltale sign that it had something to do. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe it was just a coincidence and this was a new sub-species of Grimm, however outlandish the idea was.

Regardless, she needed some form of advantage. If attacking the crystal growths on its back could provide her an edge, she was willing to try it.

She did not become the Mistral Champion through brute strength alone. That title, three years in a row, was earned by cunning as well.

In spite of being bombarded, the mutated Creep was relatively unaffected. If anything, it was just slowing it down. With a growl, it plowed itself into the ground, vanishing from sight. Pyrrha skidded to a stop and Nora ceased her attack, keeping a careful eye out for any signs of attack.

She scanned her surroundings, anticipating where the Grimm will strike next. It was useless to try to detect any sign of it resurfacing, as they learned the hard way, so the best they could do was anticipate its next move.

Nora reverted her weapon into its hammer form as she stood back to back with her teammate. They wouldn't let the Creep attack them from behind.

Seconds went by before they felt rumbling beneath the ground. Immediately, they jumped back. It was a wise move on their part, as the mutated Creep tore up through the ground in a spinning green wheel, ripping apart dirt and earth and roots alike like a sawblade. As it landed on the ground, Nora saw her chance to strike and slammed her hammer into its face. The blow disoriented it, leaving Pyrrha the opening she needed.

"Pyrrha!"

Nodding, the red-haired warrior took advantage of the opening her teammate gave her. It was time to put her theory to the test.

Raising her sword, she brought it down and smashed the crystals protruding from the monster's back. They flashed brightly for a brief moment before breaking apart into dull shards. The Creep screeched from the injury, the bright green veins on its body fading until they were almost as dark as its flesh.

It staggered, its roars and growls growing weaker.

"Hey, it worked!" Nora cheered before a savage grin formed across her lips. "Now I get to do THIS!"

She leaped up into the air and raised Magnhild high above her head. Upon descending, she brought her weapon down and smashed the Grimm's head into the earth, cracking it and finally killing the annoyance.

Black and green goo splattered all across the floor of the Forever Fall. Its body lay still, and much like the Beowolf and Ursa, it didn't break down.

"We did it!" Nora jumped up in cheer. Pyrrha nodded in agreement, relieved their opponent was finally down. But it was strange that the body remains present instead of dissipating.

Of course, the battle wasn't quite over yet.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Weiss, look out!"

The warning came too late. The Ursai slammed its paw straight into her stomach, tanking her Aura quite a bit and throwing her aside, straight to the ground. Gasping for air, Jaune pulled her up. He heard the growling of the mutated Grimm behind him and instinctively brought up his shield in time to block another blow.

Gritting his teeth, he poured as much physical strength as he could and pushed the paw aside before taking a stab at one of it's eyes. The blade dug deep into the skull, but not deep enough to strike at what could pass as its brain.

Roaring in pain, the Ursa back away, a paw at its eye before it returned to normal and glowered at him. Jaune cared little for it, standing between it and Weiss. "Weiss." he called over his shoulder. "You okay?!"

"I'm fine." She winced as she held her ribs. Fortunately, her Aura protected her from broken bones, but it did nothing to minimize the pain. She soon shook it off and held her rapier, Myrtenaster, at ready, prepared to create another glyph.

A series of dark blue markings began to form as her Semblance forged the glyph. The Ursai was not about to let her finish and charged, only to be blocked by Jaune impeding its assault, bashing it in the face with his shield, followed up with a quick stab to its shoulder. Undeterred, it rammed its head into his, effectively head-butting him and knocking him to the ground.

Before he could get up. it pinned him down with one of its paws and began to press its weight down upon him. Immediately, he felt how heavy the damn monster was and gasped, trying to pry it off, though he soon focused his attention to preventing the damn thing from biting his head off as its mouth opened, revealing rows of sharp fangs and a foul breath that caused him to gag. It leaned down, ready to rip his face off-

"Tyah!"

Then a burst of electricity, done in a pointed dash courtesy of Mrtenaster as Weiss charged through the glyph, struck it and forced it off of him, knocking the Grimm right off its feet and tumbling away.

"Ha...thanks..." Jaune gasped now that the heavy weight was off him.

"Don't mention it." Weiss shook her head as she held her own hand out. The knight grasped it as the heiress pulled him up. "Get ready, it's getting back up."

The two prepared themselves for the rising Ursa, who had shaken off the voltage. It roared before falling to all fours and charged at them.

The first to retaliate was Jaune. He ducked beneath its swing, slashing at one of its hind legs before slashing away at its back. A few of his cuts struck at the crystals, which began to glow. Sensing the danger, the Ursa whirled around and tried to backhand him, only for his shield to defend him.

With Jaune knocked a bit away from it, Weiss struck next. She twirled about in place as a few light blue glyphs formed. With a spin of her rapier and a wave, pale blue spears of light launched forward. They impacted against the Grimm, causing it to stumble back but otherwise remain on its feet.

The beast slammed its paws on the ground as the glow from its crystals intensified. The veins around its flesh glowed brightly. As if in tandem, it's form seemed to bulk up slightly.

More bony white plates emerged, pushing out from its muscles and skin. It twitched violently, its growls becoming strangled while cracking sounds emanated from its body. Slowly, it raised its body upright. Its front legs began to increase, the paws slightly growing larger and even sharper than before, resembling sharpened blades. Meanwhile, its mask cracked slightly. Fluids poured down its face while the light in one of its eyes faded. The flesh seemed to rot as well, skin falling off to reveal the disturbing dark green muscles that laid beneath.

All in all, the transformation was horrifying. Enough so that Weiss felt a little sick in her stomach.

However, she could not have the luxury to stand idly by. Instead, she readied herself for the next attack and readied Myrtenaster for another battle.

The Ursa slammed a transformed paw into the ground.

As a result, the earth trembled. The tremors made her lose her footing and stumble. The Ursa took this chance to strike. With speed disproportionate to its size, it charged at Weiss before she could recover.

With a savage strike to her abdomen, the claws ripped away at her clothing and dealt an even more devastating blow compared to the first on it delivered to her.

The last bit of her Aira protected her from further damage, but the force behind the blow forced the air from her lungs. She was flung backward and sent to a tumble, losing her grip on her weapon.

She rolled to a stop and tried to pull herself up, only to see the Ursa roar in triumph before advancing toward her.

Weiss quickly searched for her weapon, but it was out of reach.

'Dammit...!'

She cursed her lack of finesse with her Semblance. If she had the same skills as Winter, this wouldn't even be happening. She could conjure a Gigas Knight or a Grimm of equal measure and take this thing down. When it came to the family Semblance, there was no one better at wielding its power than her older sister. Her mother had been no slouch in its usage, either, but how long had it actually been since the woman had ever fought?

She gritted her teeth, trying to rise to her feet. Her body hurt too much to do so, however.

A large shadow loomed over her, causing her to look up. Her expression blanched in horror. The Ursa was already upon her with a single paw raised.

She closed her eyes and expected the worst, until a familiar cry resounded.

"Get away from her!" Jaune yelled as he bashed his shield into the mutated Grimm in an Aura-infused tackle. The attack had just enough power to push the Grimm away from Weiss and draw attention away from her.

The strike did throw Jaune back to the floor, but on the upside, the Grimm was now downed.

Taking this chance, Weiss rushed over to where her weapon lay and picked it up. She then pulled out a small vial within her pouch. It was a crystal-like vial with metal ends filled with a glowing liquid. It was a potion, a medicinal item exported from Lucis. These small items were capable of healing non-fatal wounds and even restore Aura to a certain extent.

Given the circumstances and her abysmal Aura levels at the moment, she made no hesitation to crush the item in hand and let the soothing light from its contents take effect.

The small cuts that formed when her Aura was breached began to close, vanishing almost instantly. Shaking off the small dizziness that came after, she turned to Jaune as he got up. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah..." he replied groggily, trying to catch his bearings. "Dammit, what kind of Grimm is this thing? It's one thing for them to bleed, but it's another thing when one beefs itself up!"

"Whatever it is..." Weiss narrowed her eyes as her Semblance whirred, this time dilating time around the two of them. "It's going down!"

"Yeah!" Jaune nodded in agreement, pouring his Aura into his weapons. The blade of Crocea Mors glowed brightly when imbued with the power of the soul.

With a twirl, Jaune took on a battle stance, dragging his blade against his shield as provocation.

It was time to put what he learned from Commander Drautos to good use.

The Ursa pulled itself up and prepared another charge at the duo, its crystals glowing once more.

The veins along its body bulged, and for a moment its muscles strained. Flesh began to split and liquid pouring out of the many new wounds.

Then the monster leaped into the air, intending to bring to them death from above.

However, unlike before, they were ready for its attack. With a flick of her wrist, Weiss created another Glyph below Jaune's feet. The blonde pulled the Glaive mask over his face and steeled his body with his sword raised. Once the Ursa fell within range, Weiss activated the propulsion glyph underneath Jaune, propelling him into the air at great velocity.

The Knight, fueled by the prior Time Dilation, was able to move and react faster than the mutated monstrosity. He angled his body towards an opening and swing Crocea Mors. The Aura-infused blade tore through the Grimm's hide.

The end result was a deep gash, slashing straight through the thickened muscles. It also partially destroyed some of the crystals on its back, causing bits of the stuff to scatter into the air. The creature released a painful howl as it struck the ground harshly. Several cracks echoed in the air, no doubt bone snapping from the impact. Jaune landed on his feet and skidded in his landing, twirling around.

The Ursa slowly rose back up, albeit rather weakly. Jaune didn't know the cause, but he was grateful for this and immediately went in.

The Grimm sluggishly swung at him, but Jaune quickly deflected the blow with his shield and slashed at its neck, separating its head from its shoulders.

A geyser of green blood spewed as a result, some of it spilling all over him. The body stayed upright for a few seconds before it came crashing down to the ground. The glow of the crystals on its back then began to fade away, dimming and then breaking apart into particles of dust.

"Well, that's the end of that." Weiss said with a huff as she walked over, looking at the Grimm with narrowed eyes. "Still...what on Remnant was this thing?"

"I don't know. Has...anyone ever heard of Grimm growing crystals on their back?"

Weiss shook her head. "I don't think so. Maybe...a side effect from the World Crossing?"

"I'm not sure. I mean it is possible, given how Lucis' native wildlife was also transported. But there haven't been reports on any sightings of these freaky Grimm. Not to mention, these guys seemed dead set on trying to kill us right from the start."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we know that Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, right? If that's the case, then given our conversation, we shouldn't have attracted any at all. Also, why were these guys the only one that attacked us and not the normal variety?"

The heiress cupped her chin. Jaune had a point. The Grimm attacking them so aggressively when there was no negative emotions present within their group. If Cardin was here, then maybe, but as far as she knew, Team CRDL was going to be transported back to Beacon Academy and receive due punishment.

"Also..." Jaune frowned, looking at the stump that had been its head. "Since when do Grimm BLEED?"

Now THAT was an indicating factor that something was amiss. Under normal circumstances, the bodies of Grimm dissipate upon defeat or during captivity. Never has there been an instance of leaving remains or bleeding from their wounds.

"...this just isn't natural."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So, they've failed..." the masked man hummed as he felt the imbued power he placed into the test subjects return to him, creating a small jolt in his body. "Not unexpected, however. They were mere imperfections at best. Still, one of them came close to achieving what we've been hoping for." He then turned to his companion. "Doctor, what were the results?"

"Most wonderful..." The bespectacled man grinned in glee. "The combat data that I've collected indicates that even a single one of them has the capability to overpower two huntsmen in training. Their bodies have demonstrated to be more durable than the normal variety. Not to mention their miscellaneous abilities being quite effective."

"One of the Ursa subjects, in particular, showed the most signs of adaptability with the foreign cells in its body. I believe we've gathered enough data to begin working on prototypes for the second phase."

Beneath the mask, the unknown smiled thinly. "His Majesty will be pleased to hear that." he said as he swung his arm, creating a green-and-black rift. "Be sure to gather your equipment and make yourself scarce. The Huntsmen will surely begin investigating the area."

"Understood." the companion nodded.

"Good." Without further ado, the masked man walked through the swirling portal, leaving the doctor alone with his work.

XXXXXXXXXX

Team RWBY and JNPR returned from Forever Fall not long after they had reported the appearance and subsequent elimination of the bizarre new Grimm. Glynda reprimanded them for their recklessness in not choosing to inform her, but she let them off easily, remembering how they had not even been granted an opportunity to rest. She informed Ozpin about the new Grimm along with the authorities. About an hour after the call, authorities retrieved the mutated Grimm's corpses and placed them in the morgue.

Currently, Ozpin stood in front of the silver table, which had the bizarre Beowolf that Ruby and Blake had defeated on it. His eyes narrowed, taking in every deformity and feature of this unnatural creature before looking at the mortician.

"What can you tell me about these creatures?"

"For starters..." the doctor began tiredly, clearly as dumbfounded as the man himself was. "The crystals you see growing on their backs aren't any minerals or crystals we know of. They appear similar to Dust, but their purity is so degraded, I've been half-tempted to call it Black Dust. As in, Nature's Wrath been corrupted Black Dust. We tried to harvest some of the fragments, but no sooner did we try did they break apart into dust. Even now, the crystal growths are breaking down. It's much like how the Grimm dissipate after they've been killed or captured."

Qrow, who had returned early once again, looked at the corpse wearily. "And..." he said slowly, looking at the mortician. "We're sure they're dead dead?"

"We're quite sure, sir."

Ozpin grimaced as the grip on his cane tightened. "Whatever these Grimm are, they're not natural. Glynda believes this could be a possible mutation due to the effects of the World Crossing, though I'm inclined to believe otherwise."

"Won't stop the Alfs from getting fuel to the fire." Qrow remarked with distaste. "Speaking of which, you read the report I sent ya, right?"

"I did, indeed. It seems Queen has more Pawns that I initially believed."

"Yeah. No shit. Especially that one guy I've been seeing around. Let me tell ya Oz, like these Grimm, that guy ain't normal..."

"How so?"

"Where to start?" the scythe meister groaned. "Plague's a walking nightmare. From what I saw, he can make his targets hallucinate. An illusion-type Semblance, I'm guessing. Wiped out several Hoods by himself. He clashed with their leader, too. The weirdest part is..." He leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper. "The bastard was able to use magic."

Ozpin's eyes widened. He looked at the mortician, who was more preoccupied looking over the deceased Grimm before he took his leave. His trusted ally followed close behind. "You're certain?"

"Very." Qrow answered with a serious expression. "If I'm a betting man, he's probably Ardyn's protege or something." He whipped out his flask and unscrewed the cap, taking a drink from the contents. "Salem by herself is one thing, but fighting a guy who practically made Niflheim a nightmare to Lucis in the first place? The odds were stacked against us before, and they're even worse than before. Some days, I'm starting to understand why Raven chose to leave."

The Headmaster sighed. "Her decision was understandable, Qrow. You cannot hold her for something like that."

"Oz, she's been spending the last decade blaming you for what happened to Summer!"

"And she has every right to." The man retorted, a somber look in his eyes. "It is because of my actions that your team leader is gone."

"Oz, that was never your fault." the scythe meister insisted. "Nobdoy could've known what happened. Tai and me forgave you years ago!" He took another drink, this sip much longer, before pulling his flask away from his lips. He wisely chose to divert the conversation elsewhere.

"Anyway...Plague ain't our only worry. The White Hood's own leader, Trinity, is weird too. Haven't figured out much, but since he's one of the higher-ranked members, he's got a lot of sway. Just like Plague, though, nobody knows much about him."

"Indeed. To have so little information about them is quite concerning." Ozpin nodded.

"And I don't think I gotta tell you about the others, right?"

Ozpin shook his head. "Devil and Wraith...what little do we know?"

"Don't know much about the last one, but Devil's supposedly one of the pro-human haters of the White Fang. Sienna's been trying to keep him on a tight leash, but he's got a lot of sway." Qrow told him. "At the rate things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried something to take control of the Fang. If that happened, though, I'm sure Ghira would step in. Old bastard might not be the High Leader anymore, but he's still got a bit of sway."

He took another swig from his flask before he sighed.

"And as for Wraith...that guy's a mystery. Only thing we do know is that he's definitely affiliated with Ardyn somehow." He groaned as he screwed the cap to his flask back on to the nozzle, stuffing it away in his pocket. "Other than that, though, nothing much. He's just as hard to find as the guys who attacked Amber."

"I see. So we have three definite threats to worry about, and an unknown who could very well be just as, if not more, dangerous."

"Everything's been going to hell since Ardyn got involved, that's for sure." Qrow shrugged. "Remind me again...why'd I take up this job?"

"It is because you wanted to protect your nieces and the Prince."

The man sighed. "And these days, I'm starting to regret that decision."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ruby! You guys okay?!"

Team LAPI, no sooner had they heard the news, rushed over to check on the all-female team. Much to Noctis and Ignis' chagrin, Prompto had more or less barreled into the room.

The members of the team turned to the concerned blonde. They were more or less okay. Their Aura saved them for the most part. And the potions Weiss had on hand were definitely an asset.

"We're fine Prompto. Really." Ruby replied.

"A little bruised here and there, but fine."

"You look like you've been through the wringer." Ignis remarked as he stepped into the room, noting the worn-out forms of their clothes. "The campus is talking about how a new sub-species of Grimm was spotted in Forever Fall. I'm hazarding a guess and saying that you all encountered them?'

'Yeah." Yang groaned. "And they were FREAKY. They had crystals growing on their backs, Weiss' Ursa grew like a macho man, and they hit like a truck. Oh, and apparently they bleed green goo."

Noctis blinked. "Wait. Since when do Grimm bleed?!"

"Since never." Weiss shook her head. "That's what was so bizarre about them. Not to mention that their corpses remained intact. We even have them brought in for examination."

Gladio furrowed his brow, leaning against the doorframe. "And nobody's ever seen these things before?"

"No. Never." Blake replied. "If there were any previous sightings, we would've known."

A heavy silence fell upon the group. The appearance of such a radical new sub-species of Grimm was not to be taken lightly. Especially ones with so great a difference. Their appearances defied what they knew, which of course meant treasure troves of data to scientists who spent their lives studying the Grimm.

Even still, their appearance was worrisome for some reason. Especially for Weiss, considering what she and Jaune had discussed after they had killed their own target.

"Some people might start to think that these new mutated Grimm might be because of the World Crossing." she said, bringing the Lucians attention to her. "After all, no one's ever seen them before. And if they only start to show up when Lucis appeared..."

Noctis finished her thoughts with a grimace. "...then the Anti-Lucian Federation's going to have a lot of fun wit this propaganda." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll give my dad a call. Better to warn him what's going to happen before shit hits the fan without him knowing."

"That's a good idea, Noct." Ignis nods, pleased with his liege taking the initiative.

The crown Prince nodded as he stepped out of the room, scroll in hand.

As he left, Ignis turned to everyone. "I'm sure you'll all figure it out yourselves, but tomorrow and the day after, classes will be cancelled due to what happened." he informed them, surprising the girls. "Apparently, the Headmaster's scheduling a meeting between the Headmasters and their Deputy Officers. Classes should start back up in a few days, however."

"Huh. So we get tomorrow and the next day off?" Yang grinned. "Sweet. Just means I can take the girls out shopping!"

Ruby groaned. "Seriously?"

"Ruby, we've talked about this. We really need to work on your image."

"There's nothing wrong with my image!" the little reaper protested. "I'm fine as it is!"

"Ruby, you practically wear that cloak everyday!"

"And I wash it everyday!"

"That's kinda the point. You need a change to your wardrobe, little sis."

"Says you! I'm perfectly fine the way I am."

Weiss tilted her head. "When you say girls...do you mean all of us?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

Blake quirked an eyebrow. "...why?"

Yang gave them flat stares. "How about because you all wear the same damn thing?" she stressed, folding her arms. "At least I take the time to change up my looks!"

Weiss opened her mouth to complain, but fell short when she realized that the blonde brawler did have a point. They...really didn't wear anything else aside from their school uniforms and casual clothes. Admittedly, she had a dress stored away in her closet, but that was more formal wear for balls and gallas and whatnot.

As much as she loathed to admit it. Yang was right. She needed a change to her wardrobe. "...alright, fine."

"I don't know..." Blake still looked unsure.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"You may as well give it up..." Ruby sighed. "Once Yang's made up her mind, she'll never stop. You better prepare yourself."

Blake bit her lip, still a bit unsure.

"So it's decided then!" Yang clapped her hands. "Come tomorrow, we're all going shopping!"

Ruby gave another despair-filled groan, bowing her head while Weiss and Blake sweatdropped. Prompto and Gladio couldn't help but feel sorry for the girls, the former very much aware of what Yang could do while Gladio knew from experience, Iris having once dragged him along for such an occasion.

Needless to say, neither of the males wanted to get involved in that crap.

"Now that I think about it..." Ignis tapped his chin. "Ms. Adel offered us a tour of Vale. Perhaps we should take her up on the offer, since classes are cancelled for the time being."

"Sweet!" Yang grinned. "Then it'll be a double date!"

"Well, more like a group gathering, but it would seem so." Ignis nodded.

"Wait, are we sure taking the fashionista of Team CFVY on a shopping trip is a good idea?" Prompto asked in slight concern. Given the stories he's heard from Velvet, he was kind of worried.

"I mean, with Yang, it's bad agine what'll happen if Coco takes us along for the ride?!"

Gladio rolled his eyes. "Aw, please. I doubt it'll be that bad. How bad could she be?"

As he would soon discover...very.

XXXXXXXXXX

[I see...thank you for telling me, Noctis. I'll be sure to inform the rest of the council.]

"Just wanted to give you the heads up before those guys started ranting off about how we're making things worse." Noctis replied to his father with concern. "It's been almost 20 years, and they still think what happened with the World Crossing can't be forgiven. Shouldn't they have moved on by now?"

[Grief can do many things, my son. Often times, it is a difficult obstacle to overcome. Much like for how it was for you and me when your mother passed away.]

There was no mistaking the sadness, nor somber tone, in his father's voice. Even Noctis understood it well. Like Ruby when she had lost her mother, he didn't remember much. He never got the chance to know her mother, but even still, the lack of a mother-figure in his life had been an unpleasant experience. Regis himself had no experience in children, and often at times it was trial-and-error whenever the two interacted. A difficult experience indeed.

"Yeah..." Noctis said sadly. "I know." He was only fortunate that he had his friends to help him heal. If they weren't there, then who knows how he would've turned out.

[Then please. Be careful during your time in Vale. There is a possibility of more of those Grimm existing around the area. I'm sure you and your friends can handle yourselves, but I plead you to exercise caution.]

"Don't worry. I understand, dad."

[Thank you. I must go now. I need to inform the Council about this development.]

"Wait, before you go, how are Luna and her family doing?"

There was a light-hearted laugh on the other end. [They're doing well. Ravus is looking forward to what you'll be doing in the Vytal Festival this year. Luna and Sylvia are well, though she often worries about her mother's health. And as for Stella...need I really tell you?]

"No, not really..." Noctis shook his head. Knowing how the youngest Nox Fleuret is...its best not to say anything.

[I had best be going. Take care of yourself, Little Prince.]

Noctis groaned. "Do you really have to call me by that stupid nickname...?"

[As a father, it is only my privilege. Take care, now.] Then the line went dead.

"Dammit old man..." Noctis glared at his scroll, a bemused smile on his face.

Ah, oh well. At least Regis was doing well.

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Girls Night Out...Plus Boys**


	14. Chapter 14

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, Digimon D-Code: Error of Hades, Metastability, The Taken King, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Pendulum's Fifth Swing Persona: Catharsis Caligula, and I against I and Me against You.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter VIII: Girls Night Out...Plus Boys**

Noctis woke up to the very loud, very obnoxious blaring music that came from Prompto's Scroll. The damnable tune that had been his makeshift alarm clock. Opening one eye, he found that his friend was still asleep, snoring away on his bed. Scowling, he tried to return to sleep and use his pillow to block out the damn music.

It didn't work.

"I swear..." he grumbled in annoyance as he pulled himself out of bed, tossing the pillow away and sitting up, ridding himself of the cricks on his spine as it cracked and popped. He gave his neck a few twists before he ripped the covers off of him and stood up, moving over to the table where Prompto's Scroll was. "Why'd he have to pick such a loud ringtone for an alarm?"

"Because we're heavy sleepers, unfortunately." Noctis turned to find a fully-dressed Ignis emerging from the room's kitchen, holding a pair of steaming mug. He stole a glance at Prompto, noting how he was still sleeping soundly despite the Scroll being so close to him. "Some of us, more than others. Then again, we had spent the night training." He walked over to Noctis, handing him one of the mugs. "Speaking of which, your skills with the twin knives could use some work. I could have disarmed you easily."

Noctis rolled his eyes before taking a drink, only to cringe. "Bitter." he stated the obvious fact about coffee. In truth, he hated the stuff, but drank it anyway. As a Prince, he would be doing a lot of things he was going to no doubt hate. Especially for the day came when he would be sitting on the Throne. Not that it would be anytime soon. His father had plenty of life in him. "And you don't have to tell me. I'm aware how much I suck with knives."

"Well, at least your skill with a sword isn't horrible." Ignis joked. "Out of curiosity, why did you insist on using multiple weapons? Having a sizable repitoire of weapons is well and good, but it is quite tedious to master so many different weapons."

The Prince smiled somewhat. "You know about The Armiger, right?"

"I'd be hard-pressed not to." his childhood friend replied. "Otherwise known as the Power of the Kings. The power that commands all the Royal Weapons, wielded by the previous kings of Lucis. I've never seen it before, but my father has spoken stories of it. A dancing storm of blades that would make even the greatest Huntsmen of Remnant and even the strongest of the Crownsguard envious."

"Yeah. There are 13 Royal Arms, and each one is different. One's a shield that can defend against anything. Another is a giant broadsword with a rotating edge. And another is the Trident of the Oracle, which my family gave to the Flueret's. Every King of Lucis wields that power, and one day, I'm going to be wielding it too."

"Ah." Now Ignis understood. Noctis was thinking of the future. Of when he would be setting out on his own journey. For when the day came when people expected him to act accordingly as a Prince of his country. "If I recall, each Royal Arm is hidden deep within the tombs of the Kings, all scattered around Lucis, isn't that right?"

Noctis nodded. "Yep." He gave a small grin. "I mean, yeah, a giant claymore, bow or daggers might not be the same as a weapon wielded by a King, but it's a great way to prep for the future, right?"

"I'd believe so. And speaking of preparing for the future... You are aware that we have plans today, yes?"

"I remember." Noctis groaned. "I don't get why Coco thinks we need more clothes, though. Aren't we fine with what we have?"

"Well, she seemed pretty adamant against the fact that our wardrobes primarily consist of black clothing."

"But black's a good color though. It's the color our Kingdom's uniforms are."

"Yes...but ALL of our clothes are black." Ignis pointed out. "And if what Mr. Alistair has told me, she's a self-proclaimed fashion officer, if such a thing exists."

Noctis groaned. "Ugh, great. As if the maids back in the Palace weren't bad enough." He then blinked in realization, noting the name Ignis had mentioned. "You've been hanging out with Team CFVY lately, Iggy?"

"Well, he's the reason why I even got this blend." Ignis told him.

"So I take it they're coffee people?"

"Only Ms. Adel and Mr. Alistair are. Mr. Dachi and Ms. Scarlatina prefer tea."

Ignis answered. "At any rate shall I wake up Prompto?"

"Where's Gladio?"

"At the showers. He should be back shortly."

XXXXXXXXXX

"You okay, Ruby?" Blake asked shortly after she had left the bathroom, dressed in her usual clothes rather than her uniform. "You look like you're about to head into a funeral."

And such words were hardly an understatement. She didn't look like she was going to one, per say. After all, nobody died. Yet the solemn and tired face she had, devoid of any usual chipper or happy expression she did have, were nowhere to be found.

"We're going on a shopping trip with Yang." she said as if it explained everything. "The one thing I never want to get involved in."

"Is she really that bad?"

"You and Weiss are going to find out..."

The Faunus looked at her in confusion. Was a shopping trip with Yang truly that horrific as her leader was making it out to be?

She surely couldn't have been that bad. Weiss seemed to share her thoughts as well, given how she gave Ruby an incredulous look. "You're exaggerating." she told her partner as she brushed her hair. "There's no way Yang could possibly be so bad. All we're doing is buying clothes and Dust, right?"

"You've never gone shopping on your own, have you, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Admittedly, no." Weiss confessed. "But my point still stands."

"Then you don't know Yang like I do." She stressed the fact.

"Once she gets started, she'll spend everything she has on everything that catches her eye. It takes HOURS before we get home!" Ruby wept. The memories of previous excursions, having been forcibly brought with and enduring the horrible pain. Just remembering it brought cold shivers down her spine. "And now we're in Vale! We might as well come back home never!"

Blake and Weiss stared at her unconvinced about her words.

"I think you're just over-reacting, Ruby. Surely your sister isn't THAT bad..." Weiss shook her head.

If only she realized how wrong she'd be at that moment.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well, boys and girls..." Coco announced as Teams RWBY and LAPI stood before the fashionista, her hands on her hips and a grin at the ready. "I hope you all are ready for a new world in your closet."

"If by, new world, you mean clothes piled everywhere..." Prompto chuckled awkwardly, taking a look at Yang, who looked positively giddy. "I think somebody here's got you covered on that front."

Gladio rolled his eyes, giving the sharpshooter a nudge in the ribs. "Knock it off, Prompto."

"So, my bad boy band." Coco turned to the Lucians. "Are you ready for your first trip into Vale?"

"Yeah. We're pretty excited since we haven't really seen the city before. We've heard stories from the Glaives that travel here on missions. But I'd like to see the sights myself." Noctis admitted.

"Well, you're all lucky to have us as your tour guides then."

Velvet sighed, shaking her head. "I apologize for when you guys get subjected to Coco's antics in advance." she told them. "Try and bear with us."

"Don't worry." Ruby waved a hand. "I doubt Coco is as bad as Yang is when it comes to her wallet and anything that catches her attention."

"Ouch." Yang mocked a wince, hands over her heart. "So harsh, little sister! Your words hurt worse than a Lancer's stinger through the heart!"

"Only because I speak the truth." She commented blandly.

The other two members of RWBY were still entirely unconvinced about the prospect of Yang being that big of a spender. They were willing to believe her status as a girl who loved to party and live dangerously, but they wanted to believe she wasn't that irresponsible. Coco, on the other hand, looked positively giddy about the idea of having a fellow fashionista comrade. Something that unnerved her team greatly.

Last thing they needed was TWO Coco Adels in Beacon.

"I'm already getting a bad feeling about this." Gladio mumbled. "Guess we got no choice but to grin and bear it. So, how long before the Bulkhead gets here?"

"Should be here soon." Coco answered. "In the meantime, feel like swapping stories? I've been meaning to hear what the glamorous life of a Prince is like."

Noctis rolled his eyes. "It ain't anything special. I live a normal life, like anyone else." he said before giving Gladio a small glare. "My only real stories are about how much of a drill sergeant Gladio was."

"Would you rather have preferred the Grand Marshal?" Gladio retorted with a smirk. The idea brought shivers down Noctis' spine, just from thinking about it.

"Don't even, man. But my point still stands. You were a devil back then."

"Not my fault you were a twig."

"I was in a wheelchair for a whole year! You can't fault me for that!"

"And you still had ample time to train and recover afterwards. But you enjoyed sleeping way too much."

Noctis glowered at the burly man, whereas the rest of the Team was laughing at his expense. Bunch of bastards. And besides, with how much Gladio worked him to the bone, was it really odd for him to be sleeping so much? With enough sleep, he could miss out on the constant nagging of the maids back home, plus his father occasionally asking him if he wanted to attend those political meetings. The last one, he always accepted when offered. Sure, it was boring and he'd rather sleep through them, but he would attend them nonetheless. One of the many duties of being a Prince.

That was another perk of attending Beacon. Missing out on those meetings. Along with the addition of being just a normal kid for once. The status of being a Lucian Representative in the program sort of lessened that feeling, but he was willing to take what he could get.

"Why was Noct in a wheelchair?" Ruby asked curiously, looking at the prince in question. "When we met, you were walking fine."

"An accident involving a Marilith." Ignis explained. "It's a daemon that has the torso of a human being, except it has six arms and has the lower body of a snake."

"I don't remember much back from when it happened. I was bleeding and lying on the ground. But my dad and the Crownsguard showed up and took care of it. But because of my injuries, I was confined to a wheelchair for a good while." The prince answered.

That was a half-lie. Yes, he had been confined to a wheel chair, but the incident had left him in a coma for a good long while as well. It had been where he met Carbuncle as well. Speaking of that, he hadn't seen the Astral in a long time. He wondered what the rascal was up to, but then gave a shrug. What that little thing was none of his business.

"Seriously?" Yang winced. "Yeesh."

"Well, at least that ugly mug of yours is okay." Prompto joked, wrapping his arm around the prince's neck. "After all, I need your face to make mine look handsome in comparison!"

Noctis rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Romeo."

The conversation came to an end shortly as loud engine roars entered earshot. Looking up, a large aircraft was slowly making its way to the landing pad zone, turbines aimed vertically. It hovered above them for a short while before it eventually came down, touching the floor. Its doors then opened for the twelve people before it.

"Well!" Coco said. "Everybody in!"

XXXXXXXXXX

The shopping trip in Vale had started out partially normal, seemingly dissuading Ruby's opinions. It started out with simple stuff, such as Dust stocking up and Ruby given the chance to look at weapon upgrades. As it turned out, Fox had damaged his weapon on the last mission and required repairs, hence the slight detour.

Not that she was complaining. She'd take any chance to soup up her baby!

When they reached the weapons shop, she made a beeline for the sniper rifle aisle, perusing over the various scopes, parts, and ammunition. She also dashed over to the maintenance aisle to pick up some supplies for Crescent Rose's blade. As she made several quick trips around the store, the rest of the group finally entered the building.

"Does your sister...do this often?" Weiss asked Yang.

"Yup."

Prompto sweatdropped. "...dude. Even I'm not this bad when it comes to my camera."

"Well, that is debatable..." Ignis adjusted his glasses.

"Hey!"

"Should we...do something about this?" Blake wondered.

"Nah. She'll be fine." Yang reassured everyone. "She only buys what she knows she can. She actually saves up her allowance."

After a minute or two, Ruby purchased a few parts for Crescent Rose. The first was a tactical sniper scope, perfect for sniping targets at a longer distance. The rest were just minor parts, meant to repair the scythe in the event it was damaged. She also bought a small pack of ammunition clips with a variety of Dust bullets.

The others were conservative in their own purchases. Blake had bought a few minor parts for Gambol Shroud, mainly for repairs and small tweaks, while Weiss mostly bought Dust ammunition. Fox eventually found the parts he needed to repair his own weapons, though when he attempted to pay Coco butt in and paid instead.

"Hey, I'm the one who suggested the shopping trip." she explained. "Therefore, I pay."

He knew it was useless to argue and relented. The older girl promptly smirked and handed the cashier the lien.

With pleasantries out of the way, the real shopping trip began.

Then Blake and Weiss sorely understood Ruby's insistence and Velvet's warnings.

The moment they hit the first clothing store, the Brawler and Fashionista all but dragged the group in and made a beeline towards the variety of clothes on display.

The two opposite color themed girls had attempted to escape, but the brawler had grabbed them by the collar and all but dragged them into the clothing booth. Ruby didn't even try to resist, knowing that all she could do at this point was endure.

That being said...

"Kyah! H-hey! Where are you touching, you pervert?!"

"Wow, Weiss. I didn't know you were so thin. And your skin... Damn, I'm jealous! What kind of products do they have in Atlas?!"

"That isn't the point here! A-and will you quit touching me?!"

"But your skin is so smooth! Don't you think so, Blake?"

"Please leave me out of this. And can you stop groping my chest?"

"...I don't think we should be listening to this conversation." Noctis solemnly declared, fighting off the coming blush to his face. "Can we leave now, please?"

Coco smirked. "Oho, most definitely not, Your Highness." she said mischievously. "If you guys are gonna be a bad boy band, might as well get the clothes to look the part."

"And for the last time. Black is our kingdom's color."

"Doesn't matter. Yatsu? Fox? Please show these gentlemen to the dressing rooms while I get the clothes!"

"We apologize for this." The massive, green-clad teen apologized as he and Fox led the way. "But when our leader has made her decision, we've more or less learned it would be better to cooperate."

"It's best not to question Coco when she's like this." Fox added, speaking from experience.

Noctis groaned, palming his face. Ignis sighed. "It seems we don't have much of a choice." he remarked. "Very well. At the very least, make us look somewhat presentable, Miss Adel?"

"Have no fear, Specs. This fashion officer's got you covered~"

Prompto whimpered. "Why do I not have any confidence in this?"

"It's best to just go along with it..." Velvet advised with a solemn tone.

"So I take it this isn't the worst of it?" Gladio asked.

"Not even close."

Prompto whimpered further. Noctis merely wondered what the hell he was thinking, accepting the offer.

Oh well. Nothing left to do now other than to grin and bear it.

XXXXXXXXXX

After ten minutes or so of squirming and fawning over Blake and Weiss' personal skin assets, Team RWBY emerged from the dressing rooms, each dressed in new attire. Coco lowered her glasses and gave a whistle, her opinion in Yang rising. "Damn, girl. You know how to make your team look good."

"I aim to please~"

Ruby's newly bought outfit consisted of a long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the gray shirt was a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resemble the lacing on a corset. She wore a red skirt with a large black print of her emblem on the side and matching black tulle underneath. Her stockings and shoes remained the same as her usual outfit, though the boots lacked the red trim that decorated the top. A few pieces of metal were arranged in an abstract shape that are attached to the shoulder of her left sleeve, and her cloak's hood wrapped around her neck in a scarf-like fashion, while the rest hung down like normal.

Weiss' outfit, dubbed "Snow Pea" by Ruby comically enough, was relatively more simple than Ruby's. She wore a white, double-breasted jacket with black piping, cuffs and buttons over a white, pleated full skirt with a black lace trim. She also wore a pair of white, thigh high boots with black heels and lace-topped black stockings. In Weiss' opinion, she was actually impressed by what the brawler had picked out. It made her look more mature. More of an heiress.

Blake's outfit consisted of a white, v-neck, zip-up crop shirt with a black hem and three quarter sleeves. Her emblem was printed in off-white on the left side of the shirt. She wore black pants that had a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg and a black belt.

Attached to the rear of the belt was a black piece of fabric that covered her from hip to hip. Underneath was a longer, translucent, purple piece of fabric. She also wore black high-heel boots with two straps and buckles and purple undersoles, reaching to mid-calf. She still wore the black wraps around her arms, along with her ever-present black bow.

Yang's outfit was easily one that emphasized just how good she was, defined by how easily she wore her new set of clothes. She wore a deep-collared cream vest worn over a low cut black shirt; both were covered by a dark gray shrug with a raised collar, three quarter sleeves adorned with a single black stripe down the outside of each sleeve, and gold cuffs.

A black miniskirt was worn under the cream vest. A pair of crooked black belts with gold accents were slung around her hip, with a purple piece of fabric attached to the left-rear section of the lower belt. She wore thigh high stockings attached to her miniskirt by garter-belts on the front and back of each thigh, decorated with four golden studs above her knee and her emblem on the outside of each thigh in gold. She also wore black ankle boots with multiple buckles and white ribbons on the back tied in a bow. Around her neck was a purple pendant set in silver.

"I feel violated..." Weiss mumbled, recalling Yang being too touchy feely earlier.

"I agree." Blake nodded.

"Oh cmon! You gotta admit, we all look good!" Yang grinned.

Ruby said nothing, instead fiddling with her cloak. 'At least she let me keep this.' she thought with some relief. It would be a cold day...whatever underground there was before she'd give this up. It was the last thing her mother had gotten for her before she took off on that mission. Plus, it had taken years for her to grow into it! No way she was giving this up!

Velvet brought up her camera, taking a quick picture, much to the surprise of the group. "Coco always has me taking shots of us and our friends whenever we go clothes shopping." she told them with a smile. "She wants to open up her own boutique when she graduates."

"Wait, really?" Blake asked. "Even though your studying at a Huntsman Academy?"

The fashionista shrugged. "Not everyone goes to Beacon to learn how to kick ass, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to make clothes that you can kick ass in and look good. Plus, there's no such thing that clothes can't give you a boost."

Weiss was the first one to understand the meaning behind that. "You mean sewing Dust into clothing, right?" she asked, causing question marks to dance over Ruby's head. "It's an age-old technique. I believe it was employed sometime during the last stages of the Great War."

"Got it in one, Ice Queen." Coco nodded, ignoring the infuriated look on the heiress' face at the demeaning nickname that she would soon be addressed by in the future. "I've dabbled a little bit in it. In fact, second years have the option of taking up a course about Dust and clothes. Its optional, yeah, but some of the clothes you can make in that class will give even the best brands some competition."

"I see."

Weiss had to admit, the idea did sound very interesting. A clothing store that sells items infused with Dust? There was a possible revinue behind that. Perhaps, when she succeeds her father, she could look into that idea? She then noticed the absence of Team LAPI and tilted her head. "Where's His Highness?"

"Right over there." Coco pointed behind them.

The girls turned. Yang promptly let out a low whistle. "Looking good, boys~"

Noctis rolled his eyes as he adjusted the fingerless gloves on his hands. He wouldn't outright say it, but he had to admit, Coco's choices were actually well-picked. His all-black attire was replaced by more casual clothes. A gray high-collar jacket, zipper pulled down to reveal a white t-shirt underneath while a dark gray puffy vest sat over the jacket with a yellow interior.

His hands were covered by fingerless gloves that were primarily white over the knuckles, but black in between digits. Below, he wore simple denim jeans with gray, black and white sneakers that were a bit uncomfortable, though that was normal given new shoes. Atop his head was a simple black sports hat, brim extended over his otherwise unruly bedhead.

Gladio's attire was a bit surprising, especially considering that he normally didn't wear a shirt unless necessary. Even then, the shirt usually struggled to adjust to his muscular frame. Coco managed to find a black shirt, big enough to fit him but with a low cut that exposed his collar bones.

Over that was a leather jacket with padded shoulders and a strap around the hem that wrapped around to the back of the jacket. Around his waist was a black leather belt and a golden buckle in the center, keeping the white khaki slacks he wore below suspended. A leather pouch now sat attached to his left leg. At his feet were dark brown boots with black soles.

Ignis' casual clothes suited him perfectly, in the other three males' opinion. He wore a pinstriped white dress shirt with an overturned collar, complete with suspenders and black gloves that were tightly sealed over his hands thanks to the straps around the wrists.

Attached to the suspenders were dark blue pants with a leather pouch strapped to his left calf via two belts. Around his waist was a leather belt, easily big enough to carry miscellaneous items and his daggers. At his feet were simple leather shoes with a sharp, pointed tip at the toes.

Prompto, in Yang's honest opinion, was rocking his new outfit the most. His skinny form was easily accented, but damn did he look good. Over a sleeveless red shirt, he wore a black jacket that was only partially unzipped at the bottom, showing off the shirt in question and the white belt keeping his otherwise baggy jeans from falling from his hips.

A black armband was tightly wrapped over his right bicep, along with wristband to go with a black glove. The last one was at his own request, though, due to personal reasons. For footwear, he wore brown high-tops that were chaffing the calves a bit, but were otherwise comfortable.

In the combined opinions of Teams RWBY and CFVY? A much needed improvement over the black clothes they always had on.

"Not bad." Coco smiled. "How do you like your new duds?"

Prompto grinned. "I like 'em honestly." he said, giving himself a look over. "Gotta admit, I was kinda expecting to find myself wearing something crazy. We kinda look like models!"

"If that's the case, Iggy here's the poster boy for 'high-class.'" Gladio joked, folding his arms. "Nice and sharp."

Ignis smiled thinly. "Well, I won't lie. I'm quite comfortable with this attire." he admitted before casting a glance at Noctis. "His Highness, on the other hand, looks like every other person walking in the street."

"And that suits me just fine." Noctis replied as he adjusted his hat. "Now no one would even notice that the Prince of Lucis and its representative is walking amongst them."

"Man. Talk about blending in with the crowd."

Coco grinned as she crossed her arms beneath her bossom. "Glad you approve...because we aren't done yet."

"...seriously?"

Velvet gave him a guilty, apologetic smile. "Sorry, Your Highness. Try and bear with it."

"Oh boy." Gladio sighed. "Here we go again."

(A Few Minutes Later)

"...okay." Yang purred. "Now THIS is how a bad boy band should look."

"I agree, comrade." Coco answered, taking in the sight. "I wholeheartedly agree."

Noctis felt naked before the two, a feeling shared by Prompto whereas Ignis and Gladio were nonplussed about the whole thing. Unlike before, where he his casual clothes made him look indistinguishable from anyone else in the crowd, his clothes made him stand out more. The only consolation was that, like his standard attire, they were dominantly black.

He wore a black jacket that he purposely kept unzipped with skull-motif buttons, zipper tag and sequin details on the pockets. Underneath was a steel gray shirt with skull prints. He also wore black cropped trousers and black buckled boots with red soles along with a black motorcycle glove on his left hand.

Ignis' previous clothes showcased how sharp he looked, and the ones he wore now were no different. A purple and black patterned dress shirt with a black suit and black shiny red-soled shoes with sequenced crystals at the tip. He wore shimmery silver driving gloves. Like Noctis and the other two, he has numerous skull-motifs to his outfit, the most prominent being the skull print on the back of his shirt. He also had a skull on his belt buckle and a silver skull pendant.

Gladio's attire was the one Yang and Coco were looking at the most. Namely because of the shirt was purposely left unbuttoned. He had on black leather trousers with a small side chain, and an open black shirt with nothing but a pendant underneath. He had a small arm sleeve over his left wrist, and wore black shoes with red soles. The buttons on his shirt, naturally, have skulls on them, and his necklace had two golden skulls, and there was a small skull on his belt buckle and on the tag of his trousers' zipper.

Promto's clothes, meanwhile, held a slight resemblance to his newly purchased casual clothes. He wore two bands on his right arm, black gloves, a black shirt with a white pattern, and a sleeveless black vest with a dark red flannel shirt attached underneath.

He wore dark pants with a faint leopard print. He also had on black boots with red soles that are lined with white fur. His black open vest had various tags. The one below the collar read: "It's a beautiful day now watch some bastard mess it up." The middle one on the side resembled the Harley-Davidson Motor Company logo. The back of Prompto's waistcoat also read: "DEADORALIVE." The buttons on his jacket had skulls, and he had on a belt buckle in the shape of a skull, and another skull on the tag on his trousers.

Simply put, if their old clothes made them look like a bad boy band, the new clothes only further enhanced the look.

"Now I feel like some sort of dress up doll..." Prompto remarked.

"Now I feel like some emo, punk vocalist." Noctis added.

"Come on. I don't think it's that bad, you guys." Gladio said.

"Indeed. Besides, a good variety in your closet is always a good thing." Ignis quipped.

Coco and Yang threw their arms up. "Thank you! Somebody who gets it!"

"Oh the Astrals, there are two of them..." Prompto dramatically lamented.

"Nice job, Iggy." The Prince facepalmed. "You just got them even more motivated."

"I was simply giving my honest opinion. You never know when you must dress appropriately for any given situation, such as formal gatherings and whatnot."

Noctis groaned. "Please don't remind me of those." he begged his childhood friend. "Those gallas and balls are so obnoxious."

XXXXXXXXXX

Back at Beacon Academy, Team JNPR had preoccupied themselves with their own freetime. After the incident in Forever Falls, Pyrrha and Jaune had both agreed that it would be best to test their skills and hone them, in the event that something were to happen. Yes, they were able to repel the new subspecies of Grimm, but Jaune felt that there could be improvement. Nora wholeheartedly supported the idea, especially since it meant that she could have a crack at Jaune. She hadn't made it secret that she wanted to fight someone who was trained by someone so high up in the Kingsglaive.

As a result, both of them were duking it out in the practice arena with Pyrrha and Ren watching off to the side.

Nora leaped up to slam her hammer down on Jaune, but the team leader easily side-stepped it and swung Crocea Mors at her back.

The result was her tumbling over her feet, though she was quick to get back up. If anything, she looked event more determined as she twirled her hammer around. 'What is it made out of?' Jaune wondered idly before he brought up his shield, defending against the strike. It was heavy, despite how easily she swung her weapon around. Tensing his muscles, he shrugged off the shield and retaliated with a clockwork spin, aiming for her leg.

Always aim for the leg.

It was a piece of advice Titus Drautos engraved into his mind during their combat training. The legs of an opponents are what hold up the body and allow them to move and attack due to a change of positioning.

Attacking the legs is a quick way to incapacitate a foe and capitalize on the opening to end the fight.

Nora, however, was agile on her feet. And very proficient with her hammer. A quick twirl and his strike was intercepted. She then followed up with a jump and a kick to the chest, knocking him back. Capitalizing, she began to move her body around in mid-air, not even stopping as she hit the grass and bringing her hammer trailing behind her. Jaune barely had enough time to use his Aura before the hammer collided with his chest and threw him straight off his feet.

He wasn't going to lie. It hurt worse than the time he sparred with his teacher.

His back landed on the ground. He was coherent enough to realize that Nora was up in the air already, intending to smash his head into the ground. Gritting his teeth, he immediately brought up his shield and braced himself for impact.

The hammer head struck hard against his shield like a meteor. His arm shook from the force of the blow, yet his guard remained intact. As soon as he regained the feeling in his limbs, he forced the hyperactive ginger off him and swung with Crocea Mors. Nora jumped back to avoid the swing and transformed her weapon into its grenade launcher form.

"Bombs away!" Nora cackled like a madman as she sent one projectile after another at him.

Jaune gritted his teeth as he brought up his shield, choosing to instead charge forward. There was no use trying to withstand it and stand still. That was unnecessary damage. Ah, if only he had been blessed by the King! Then he could just warp around Nora and take her down that way! Sadly, he never had that luxury.

Heck, he wasn't even remotely affiliated with Lucis, other than having Commander Drautos for a teacher. Regardless, now wasn't the time to think. He pushed his feet forward, one step after another, before taking off into a fullblown sprint under a hailstorm of flying grenades. A few had gotten too close for comfort and two or three actually hit his shield, damn near throwing him off his feet.

Even so, he continued to trudge forward.

Nora, seeing his approach, frowned but then grinned as she switched Magnihild back into its most beloved shape and meet his charge head on.

Pyrrha and Ren held their breaths. Both combatants were charging right at each other. A representation of an unstoppable force and an immovable object bound for collision.

One thing is for sure...it won't be pretty.

Nora stopped, just a few inches away from Jaune before she swung. Likewise, the blonde slammed his foot to come to a stop and poised his blade for a thrust, going straight for her abdomen while bringing up his shield to defend himself from the blow.

Both attacks struck. The hammer against the shield and the blade striking the girl's body.

Nora found herself crumpling beneath the pinpointed attack, losing her grip on Magnihild and thrown off her feet while clutching her stomach, feeling as if she had just been sucker-punched by a pole at top speed. Jaune's strength in holding out failed him as his arm was pushed back. His own shield came to strike him in the face with its corner before he found himself tumbling through the earth, eventually coming to a stop.

At this point, Ren decided to blow the whistle.

"That's enough you too." The combatants separated.

Nora groaned as she rubbed her stomach, rising to her feet. "I think I'm gonna barf..." she moaned. "Leeeaaadeeer! Why'd you aim for my tummy?"

"To be fair," Jaune called as he leaned up against the tree, holding his hand in his head. "I was actually aiming for your pelvis. Sorry."

"It's fine..." she waved off the apology. "It will take more than that to take me down. Doesn't make it hurt any less though..."

Pyrrha sighed as she walked over, helping Jaune up. His Aura was already healing the damage, but she could see a particularly nasty welt on his forehead. It wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been without Aura. "You're lucky it was just above your eye." she told him. "Any lower, and a welt would have been the least of our problems."

"Yeah. I know." Jaune nodded. The last thing he needed was to explain to his family and teacher why he became half blind when he got back.

"Still, your swordwork is impressive. It's hard to believe you didn't go to a combat school."

"I had the next best thing: a Commander in the Kingsglaive." Jaune replied cheekily. "Though I think Drill Sargent would have been a better title for him.

"So what was Commander Drautos like?" She asked. "I've heard stories about him, but I also wish to hear how you two met in the first place."

The blonde knight plopped unto the log while he rubbed the spot where his shield met his head. "Let's see...I guess it started around the time I wanted to become a Huntsman. I guess that was...eleven or twelve years ago, I think? My parents always raised me on the stories about heroes and our family's exploits in the Great War. I didn't really get most of it, but my grandfather was apparently one of the best soldiers in Vale back then. Anyway, I wanted to become just like that. A hero. So I tried learning how to hold a sword and played with my sisters."

"Were you good with a sword?"

Jaune laughed. "Are you kidding? I SUCKED at sword play! Every time I tried to swing it, my sisters kept hitting me in the side or I was so open that they ended it with a bop on the head." And it was the truth. He truly was that horrible with a sword. He could barely swing a wooden stick to save his life back then. Looking back on it, his sisters would have been better Huntsman material then he would have been. "Before long, I thought about how maybe I wasn't cut out for Huntsman stuff. My mom was really sad about me getting all depressed, so she tried helping me out with studies and all that."

"A Huntsman needs more than strength." Ren remarked with approval. "She sounds very wise."

"Yeah, she is." Jaune smiled greatly. "She's actually a retired Huntress, but she told me she wasn't the best one around, compared to Huntsmen today who're still active. At first, I wasn't really excited. I mean, what kid their age wants to study when they could be out swinging swords?"

"Understandable." Pyrrha said, though with a twinge of embarrassment. "I was much the same way, actually. You remember how I told that my parents attempted to home-school me, right?" Jaune nodded. "Well, my uncle and grandfather thought otherwise. They thought that, because my parents stuck to age-old traditions, I wouldn't be able to 'see the whole picture.' They wanted to teach me in both studies and fighting. Admittedly, I wasn't good at studying at first. Compared to how my uncle and grandfather teached me, though, to my parents...I think I was better off learning with the former."

Jaune winced. "Were they THAT bad?"

"In civilian schools, back before the Great War, teachers were allowed to employ physical discipline to any unruly student. My parents followed the traditions. And they didn't use rulers."

"Oh..." Jaune muttered awkwardly. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that meant. "I'm sorry..."

"It's alright. It was just my parents' method of teaching me. But I did manage to learn a lot from my uncle and grandfather."

"Well, at least you had them to back you up. That's a good thing." The blonde tried to lay out the positive.

Pyrrha smiled. "Thanks. So, back to you. How did you meet Drautos?"

"Funny story behind that. It all started when he went on vacation and I got into an argument with two of my sisters..."

XXXXXXXXXX

[Hey, my cute rabbit magician girl~ How's things?]

"You know I've asked you repeatedly not to call me that, right?"

[Why not? It's the truth! You're very cute. And if what you've told me about your leader is anything to go by, she agrees with me!]

Velvet Scarlatina blushed profusely from the caller's words. While her team and Team RWBY were preoccupied with picking out outfits for Team LAPI, she received a message from her pen pal to inquire how things were going so far in her second year.

Suffice to say, despite them messaging each other for years, she still gets embarrassed by his words. But it doesn't mean she necessarily disliked it as it is his way of complimenting her.

[Jokes aside, how're you doing? Your missions go okay?]

"I'm doing well. I'm doing well in my classes, made some friends with the freshman teams, and my Team was selected by the Headmaster to give a tour to the Lucian representatives. And my missions are going well, too."

[That's great!] Her pen pal said. But as he spoke again, his tone became more concerned. [But that's not all there is, is there, bun-bun? Is there something you're not telling me?]

Velvet pursed her lips. She didn't want to tell him about the bullying. It wasn't anything that she couldn't handle, but she didn't want him to worry or anything. "I wouldn't say that. Just some freshman trying to start something. Mostly with the other freshman Faunus."

[Bullies?] He guessed.

"It's nothing I can't handle, you know."

[I know. Not only are you cute, but you are really strong and smart as well. I know that you can handle them, but it doesn't stop me from worrying, y'know.]

"I appreciate your concern."

[What kind of friend would I be if I wasn't? You're important to me, Velvet.]

The Faunus girl's cheeks blushed pink. "Oh, stop!"

"It's the truth though." He teased.

"Oh, whatever. But how are your brothers?" She decided to change the subject to save face.

[They're doing great. Granted, Edan's still a hot-head while Argent is still a tech-geek. It's pretty much up to me and Gawain to keep them grounded. Though me and Argent had a slight disagreement over something stupid recently. Don't worry, we got it worked out.]

"What were you two arguing about?"

[Oh, it was about-] Suddenly, a series of loud crashes were heard on the other end, startling Velvet. [Oh, motherf-! Argent, what did I say about ballistics?!]

[Hey!] another male voice called. [It's a work in progress! And besides, it isn't the big guy's fault! He's still in the testing phase!]

[Just-just stop what you're doing for a second?!] Velvet's Pen Pal sighed irritably. [Sorry, Vel. I hafta go. Argent's mucking around again. Talk to you later?]

Velvet smiled as her response came quickly. "Of course~"

[You're the best, my cute magician bunny!]

Before the rabbit Faunus could reply, the caller had already signed off. She stared st her scroll with flushed cheeks. "Oh Leonidas, you dummy." Yet a happy smile was on her face.

"So...how was your talk with your boyfriend. A familiar voice said from behind.

Velvet yelped as she turned, facing a grinning Coco Adel.

"C-Coco!" Velvet snapped, having nearly been scared to death. "D-don't do that! You know how much I hate it when you sneak up on me like that!"

Coco giggled. "Sorry, girl, but you make it hard to resist." she said, much to her teammate's chagrin. Why must she be so...so...devilish? "And by the way, when can we expect a confession?"

"It-it isn't like that." Velvet weakly denied, fiddling with her Scroll. "I mean, s-sure, we've known each other for a while, b-but I don't think he sees me that way."

"Vel..." Coco tilted her glasses down, giving her friend a serious look. "A guy who almost always calls you twice a week, has a handsome face from the photos you show me, worries about you and makes it a point to call you "cute" at least once in your phone calls is, without a doubt, attracted to you."

"E-even still, he lives in Atlas. Since when do long distance relationships work out?"

"The Vytal Festival is coming up." Coco reminded her. "Maybe you'll get to see him then. He is apart of a Team, right?"

"W-well, yeah, but he-"

"Then stop worrying so much. If you don't hurry, some other chick will snatch him right from under you!"

Upon hearing this, Velvet grew alarmed. Leonidas...with someone else? The very thought made her heart ache.

"See? That's why you gotta take initiative and go for it, bun-bun." Coco advised, as if reading her thoughts.

Velvet frowned. She did like Leonidas dearly. He was, perhaps, one of the most important people in her life. It also helped that he was a human who didn't hate Faunus or discriminate against them in any way. If anything, he confessed to actually liking Faunus more than humans, if only because certain Faunus looked downright adorable with their appendages. Case in point, Velvet herself. They had been friends for well over two years now, and while they've only actually met a handful of times due to them being in different Kingdoms and Academies. Even so, it was plainly obvious to see how much Leonidas actually meant to the poor girl, yet she was afraid to act on it. Years of being bullied in school had left her with something of low confidence. That was something Coco had noticed and had done everything in her power to change since the day Team CFVY was formed a year ago.

The improvements were slow, but noticeable. She still acted very shy, but when push came to shove, she was a feisty little rabbit. Coco could definitely feel proud in that achievement.

Now, when it came to boys...eh. The jury was out on that one. Nonetheless, she was getting better.

"Just follow my advice and try and at least bring up the idea of dating?" Coco suggested to Velvet. "Better yet, ask him what his kind of girl is like!"

"B-but..."

"Velvet. What is Team CFVY's motto?"

Velvet gave her a blank stare. "To never let you near clothing stores with anything over 500 lien?"

"Well, other than that one."

"To be yourself."

Coco nodded, smiling as she patted the Rabbit Faunus on the shoulders. "Just be yourself. Let him know you're at least interested him in a little bit. Just don't be aggressive. Boys are slow on the uptake."

Velvet giggled. "Boys other than Fox or Yatsuhashi, you mean."

"Oh, you know what I mean." Coco grinned.

Eventually, the two girls returned back to the forefront of their escapade. By the end of it all, Team LAPI was sorely wishing that they were back at Beacon, Prompto even wishing that they were back at Insomnia.

The shopping trip lasted at least two more hours before the three teams returned to the school, bags filled with items (mostly clothes) in tow.

XXXXXXXXXX

Night had descended upon Remnant in no time once the sun had dipped. The moon and all of its shattered glory hung high in the sky, illuminating the warehouse Roman was in. Said warehouse was also filled with activity as several White Fang soldiers moved about, moving and transporting various items from place to place. They were all wooden containers, a few metal ones mixed in, and inside was ammunition, Dust and other weaponry.

Personally speaking, the mobster had no idea why they were gathering all of this. Hell, he'd understand things better if he was working with Plague. Or hell, even that Devil kid. But nope, he got saddled with that hot yet deadly bitch that was Cinder Fall!

"What is it with me and women who are pains in my ass?" the man wondered out loud, thankful that Neo was not here. She'd have kicked his ass for that one. But his point still stood. He was more or less forced to work for Cinder because of her ultimatum, in spite of the grand payoff of things, with the alternative being dead. Or worse. He was willing to work with the Fang, even if they were a bunch of idiots, but seriously.

At least the woman wasn't having him try and start a crime spree in Lucis. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved with the Hunters there. or god forbid, the Kingsglaive. He once saw those men in action once, long before he ever became the criminal mastermind he was today.

Ever since Lucis came to town, magic was scary shit that Roman Torchwick wanted nothing to do with.

He gave a small sigh as he turned his attention back to the map. Several X's were marked over the stores he had already hit. By now, Dust prices should be skyrocketing. It would take at least a couple more months before they refilled on Dust, but hey, since when did he ever have time for that? It was better to take what he could now. Especially since Cinder had something in mind.

As he looked over the plans, detailing his next heist, his Scroll rang. Taking it out from his coat pocket, he saw that it was a message from one of his more friendlier colleagues. People he could actually stand to work with.

He gave it a quick read before closing his Scroll. Taking the moment to inhale the fumes of his cigar and then exhale it into a puff of toxic smoke, the man looked back at his map and frowned.

"...we're going to need more men."

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter: END**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next Time: Values and Belief**


	15. Chapter 15

**Co-Written with Demons Anarchy of Pride. The creator of many fantastic masterpieces such as: Code Geass: Lelouch of the R-eset, Persona 4: The Unseen Truth, DxD: Final, DxD: Nocturne, RWBY: Colorless Memories, RWBY: Black Rebellion, RWBY: Final Judgment, Bloom, Wilt, and Scatter, Drifting towards Rebellion, The Reversed Fool of Justice, Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to, Outsiders, Die Set Down, Fate: Breaker, Fate: stay night: Dragon of Dragons, Digimon D-Code: Error of Hades, Metastability, The Taken King, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Pendulum's Fifth Swing, Persona: Catharsis Caligula, and I against I and Me against You.**

 **I highly recommend you check them all out.**

 **I really appreciate your help, man. Couldn't have done this without ya!**

 **And for all you readers, we have a new poll set up asking a critical question for the story...Should we bring in Aranea Highwind or not? If yes, then how? Please vote.**

* * *

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:**

 _ **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**_

 **Chapter IX: Values and Beliefs**

* * *

"Finally!" Prompto cheered as Team LAPI joined the crowd of students, leaving the classroom behind. "I thought class would never end! Man, why does Prof. Peach gotta make that class drag?"

Noctis yawned in agreement. "Tell me about it. I thought she was putting me to sleep." Cracking his neck, ridding himself of the uncomfortable cricks, he found Gladio and Ignis up ahead, apparently waiting for them. To the Prince's surprise, however, he also found a familiar white-themed girl speaking with them. "Is that Weiss?"

"Looks like it." Judging by the smile on her face as she conversed, she was likely in a good mood. Their conversation seemed to have ended, though, as she bowed into a curtsy and proceeded to leave. The two older members of LAPI then noticed the resident photographer of the team and Noctis approaching and joined them. "Yo."

"Hey." Gladio raised a hand, high-fiving the blonde. "How was Peach's class?"

"Ugh, boring. So, what did Weiss want?"

Ignis adjusted his glasses. "It seems Team RWBY is going to be heading to Vale. As it turns out, they've begun setting up decorations for the Vytal Festival. She asked if we were interested in joining."

"Damn. It's happening already? It didn't seem that long since the last one." Prompto commented.

"Well, two years have flown by pretty quickly."

"What do you say, Noct?" Gladio looked at Noctis. "Feel like seeing a festival in progress?"

Noctis smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, sure. Why not? Not like we've got anything else planned for today, right?"

"Nope. All of our classes are done for the day." Prompto said relief. "Lets go hit the town, guys!"

* * *

The Vytal Festival. A time of festivities and celebration. A time to mark another year of the lasting peace amongst the four Kingdoms. A time to honor the lives lost in the Great War.

Every two years, this competition is held as a reminder for the peace that was fought for so long ago. In this singular competition, the four kingdoms gather, and do battle.

It was because of this fact that Weiss Schnee was currently skipping around town with a wide grin on her face, the rest of Team RWBY, followed by LAPI.

"Isn't this amazing you guys?" The Schnee heiress twirled around as they strolled through the streets.

"What is?" Blake asked rhetorically. "All I see are decorations."

"Oh you know what I mean! This is a momentous Occasion for all of Remnant!" The heiress twirled around again, a bounce in her steps as she trotted along the streets with a wide grin. "The Vytal Festival, an event held once every two years," she recounted with her eyes closed. "A momentous day when the four kingdoms come together, bringing forth their best and brightest Huntsmen and Huntresses in training to test their skills against one another! Even better yet, Mistral's own students are arriving today! Thus, as our duty as students and Huntsmen in training suggests, we should welcome them and-!"

Ruby held up a hand. "Um, Weiss? Calm down." she asked. "You're smiling way too much, and it's kinda creepy."

"Yeah." Prompto nodded in agreement. "I agree with Ruby. I mean, don't get us wrong, it ain't wrong to get excited over the festival, but its still months away, right?"

"But don't you see?" She asked them. "Imagine just how much planning and organization had to take place to prepare these festivities, not to mention the upcoming tournament."

"Only you would take something so exciting and make it sound boring, Ice Queen." Yang shook her head.

Ruby pinched her nose, face wrinkling. "Why does it smell like fish?"

"We are by the harbor." Ignis reminded her. "Additionally, there are numerous seafood vendors around here. Speaking of seafood, Noct, I'll be needing ingredients for tonight's dinner."

"What're you thinking?"

"Sushi, if you're palette is up for it."

Unknown to the all male team, but obviously known to Yang who was standing next to her, Blake's mouth began to water at the mere mention of sushi. The image was now stuck in her mind: a plate with urchins, sashimi shrimp, tuna and various other sea-roaming critters, all cooked and ready to be eaten.

"You can cook, Ignis?" Ruby asked, clearly surprised. "I would have thought Noctis or Prompto made food."

Ignis snorted. "With all due respect to His Highness and Prompto, I'd sooner jump off a cliff than allow those two anywhere near a kitchen."

"He's not wrong." Noctis added. "I can't cook to save my life, save for cup noodles, and Prompto nearly burned down the kitchen when he tried to make breakfast."

"One time! It was one time that happened!" The blonde sharpshooter refuted.

"It was supposed to be a simple omelet, yet you made the stove burst into flames."

Prompto pouted, rather miffed. He still thought it was the stove that was on the fritz and not him that caused it. Seriously. He's followed that recipe down to the letter. What could have gone wrong?

"So, what's the real reason why we're here?" Gladio asked, causing Weiss to look at him. "Come on. If you really wanted to greet the Vacuo students, you would have done it when they came with Atlas and Mistral. Be honest. You're just here to scope out the competition."

Weiss blushed. "T-that isn't true! You can't prove that!"

"Suuure." Noctis rolled his eyes, slipping his hands into his pockets. "You know, I still don't get why the Vytal Festival is so important."

"If memory serves, it is a testament, as well as a reminder, of the peace." Ignis recalled from one of the many books he read. "After the Great War came to an end, the first Headmasters, as well as the rulers of the Kingdoms, established a way to honor the fallen. After several years pass, it eventually became more of a sport and a symbol of the unity between the kingdoms."

"And now, Lucis has a shot at it." Gladio remarked with a grin. "This should be pretty fun."

"That's right..." Yang said in realization. "It wasn't until recently that Lucis became part of the Vytal Treaty, hasn't it?"

"Yeah. It took some time, but now we're able to participate in the festivities and the Tournament. Personally, I want to see if this holds up to the Assassin Festival back home." Noctis responded.

"Still looking forward to that, by the way. When was it again?" His best friend questioned.

"If memory serves, it takes place during the break between semesters..."

Ruby tilted her head. "Assassin Festival?" she asked. "What is that?"

A second later, she regretted asking that question. "It is the greatest event to ever grace Lucian history!" The Prince and sharpshooter exclaimed simultaneously. "It is a festival dedicating to the greatest video game series in the Kingdom. _Assassin's Creed_!"

"...wait, what?"

Ignis groaned, palming his face while receiving stares from the rest of RWBY, as if demanding a more sane answer. "While that is...partially accurate," he said with great reluctance to actually admit such a thing. "The Assassin Festival is mainly dedicated to a group of individuals from Eos' old history. A story of oppression and revenge, I believe. Then that story became the basis of a rather popular video game series. The Festival is mainly in focus to the story of the assassins who left their mark in history, but, unfortunately, these days...it is as the two say."

"Good game, though." Gladio chimed. "Especially the parts where you more or less drop from sixty stories and fall into piles of hay."

Weiss stared at the Lucians, her face, unreadable, before it fell and rather harshly face-palmed, dragging her hand down her face to reveal a rather exasperated and tired expression. "...I am truly surrounded by idiots."

"Come on, Weiss." Yang patted her shoulder. "A festival based around a video game? You gotta admit, it sounds exciting."

"I wouldn't know. I've never played video games."

"What?! Seriously?! Girl, you missing out!"

Blake shook her head. "I don't really see the appeal."

Yang snorted. "Says the girl who's themed like a ninja and is apparently a mage."

"Wait, what?" Noctis blinked, turning to Blake in curiosity and surprise. "Blake, you know magic?"

The girl nodded. "I was a member of the Kingsglaive, though I decided to take my leave from it when my father put in a good word for me at Beacon." she explained. "I...wanted to try and become a Huntress. See the world for more than it is. And to try and change things for the better."

"What things?"

Blake opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't express her words as Ruby, having taken the time to let her eyes wander, and found a strangely familiar sight. "What's that?" The group followed her line of sight. There was a store down the street, window pane shattered to pieces and yellow caution tape surrounding it. Pacing around in front of the store were two men, dressed in matching uniforms and sunglasses. Curious, they walked over to the store. Ruby then approached one of the men working. "What happened here?"

"Robbery." the man answered. "Second Dust shop this week. I swear, Vale's turning into a jungle." The man then walked away, heading over to the police car beyond the tape, ducking underneath it.

Ignis frowned. "How terrible. I imagine it will be a while before they can restock on what was lost."

"Man, talk about weird. They left all the money again." Ruby's ears perked up, looking at the two detectives as they spoke. "Including the register and the safe, there's over a 100, 000 Lien! Why pass that up?"

"Tell me about it." the first detective shook his head. "Who needs that much Dust, anyway?"

"Beats me. Maybe an army?"

"You thinking White Fang?"

The detective scoffed. "I'm thinking we don't get paid enough for this shit."

At the mention of the White Fang, Weiss' good mood instantly plummeted and her face darkened. A scowl touched her lips, eyes becoming frosty. "The White Fang...!" she spat the name with hate and venom, so much so that it caused the others to feel uncomfortable. "What an awful group of degenerates!"

"And just what's your problem?" Blake inquired with narrowed eyes.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're just a group of misguided Faunus."

" _Misguided_?! They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!" The heiress refuted.

"Now that is not true!" Gladio interjected, drawing all attention to him. "...I've met with the high leader of the White Fang, and I can say that she's hardly a genocidal mastermind. She may advocate force in their push for equality, but she has lines she would never cross."

Weiss stared at Gladio, finding herself nearly unable to speak. The words he spoke did not register nor compute with her. They were utterly foreign.

Blake was also quick to add to his statement as well, further confusing her. "He's right. Sienna might be using violence, but she wouldn't do anything that would put a target on the backs of Faunus. Also, not all Faunus are apart of the White Fang, nor are they all evil."

"Indeed. In fact, a rather significant portion of the Kingsglaive members are Faunus. They loyally serve and protect the Kingdom of Lucis." Ignis added.

"Yeah. I don't see why you think they're a problem Weiss. It's like Blake said, the Faunus in the White Fang are just misguided." Prompto pitched in.

"Hey! Someone stop that Faunus!"

Suddenly, RWBY and LAPI found their attention directed to the port. Currently, the crew on board a ship were in a frenzy, chasing after a teen running through the deck before jumping up to the portside, proceeding to then leap off of it. Something from the back of his pants whipped out and snatched unto a lamp, hanging down from it. It was actually a yellow furry tail, marking him as a Faunus. He wore a white shirt that was left open, exposing a rather impressive six-pack and dark denim jeans. He had messy blonde hair and blue eyes, along with a vibrant grin on his face.

"Thanks for the ride boys!" he said to the crew as he waved at them.

"You no-good stowaway!" one deckhand shouted angrily.

"Hey! A no-good stowaway would have been caught! I'm a _great_ stowaway!"

Unworried about his situation, the Faunus teen proceeded to whip out a banana, peeling off its skin and taking a bite out of it. However, his food time soon came to an end when the two detectives from earlier came down, the older of the two looked quite miffed. "Hey, you!" he snapped. "Get down from here!"

The teen cocked his head, swallowing his bite. He paused for a moment, then he grinned and threw the banana peel at the detective's face, much to his chagrin. When the man whipped out his pistol, about to use force, the teen swung on his tail and jumped over them, landing on the ramp and proceeded to book it.

He dashed up the staircase and reached the streets, rushing past Team RWBY. However, in a short moment, the blonde Faunus turned to Blake and gave her a wink, causing her to blink in surprise and felt a blush creep up to her cheeks before time caught up and he was nearly out of sight.

"Well, Weiss." Yang spoke up, dispelling the confusion among them. "You wanted to see the competition? There it goes."

"Q-Quick!" Weiss clammored, taking off into a run. "We have to observe him!"

Noctis shook his head. "Should have stayed back at Beacon..." he muttered before he and the rest of the group chased after the Faunus. As they ran, Noctis noticed Prompto had his camera out and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, man?"

"What? Not everyday you see someone actually throw a banana peel at a cop." Prompto defended. "Besides, you know you wanna see it too."

Their chase led them down the street. They were quickly catching up with them, though as the rounded the corner, Weiss unfortunately smacked into someone and fell over, toppling over them. "Ow!" she hissed, feeling as if she had just struck a metal wall.

She looked up and saw the Faunus skidding to a stop, jumping up to a street lamp and then bounce off it, heading for the rooftops. "Drat!" she cursed. "We lost him."

"Um, Weiss?" The heiress looked over her shoulder, finding her Team and the Lucians looking at her strangely. Noctis pointed at her. Or more accurately, whatever was underneath her. "You, uh, might wanna look down."

Weiss did as she was told. And she came face to face, rather too close for comfort, with that of another girl, one with a wide-smile on her face. "Sal~u~tations!"

Yelping in fright and in embarrassment, Weiss leaped off of her and quickly dusted herself off, blushing for not realizing that she had unknowingly knocked over someone in her chase. It was unbecoming of her. She then looked at the girl she had knocked over.

She was a girl around their age with short, curly orange hair that came down to her chin with a pink bow in her hair. Her eyes were open wide and bright green. Her complexion was light, with freckles dotting across her nose. She was garbed in a rather old-fashioned, beige blouse with short, feminine overalls colored gray with bright green highlights. She wore a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings. She had a joyful expression on her face as she observed the group.

"Um, h-hi?" Ruby greeted weakly, a little bit put-off by the fact that the girl was smiling in spite of the fact that she had not made any effort to get herself up. "Are you okay?"

"I am wonderful!" the girl replied. "Thank you for asking!"

Prompto frowned. "Are you sure about that?" he asked in concern. "Your head okay?"

"More importantly, don't you want to get up?" Noctis stated the obvious. The girl tilted her head, pondering the answer, before she nodded and leaped up to her feet. The group then took a step back, giving her some room. "So, you're sure your okay?"

The girl nodded. "Indeed I am." she said before she bowed her head. "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness."

The group blinked in surprise. "Wait." Blake said what was on their minds with a hint of suspicion. Though she was no longer a member of the Crownsguard, she was still honor bound to protect the prince. "You know who Noctis is?"

"Of course! He is Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prince of Lucis and son of King Regis." the girl answered without hesitation. The girls and boys felt a little unnerved. The girl did not stop smiling whatsoever. "And the three beside him are Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia and Prompto Argentum, members of the Crownsguard!"

"...and how, exactly, do you know all that?" Ignis inquired, equally as suspicious as Blake if not more so. Slowly, he put himself between the girl and Noctis while Gladio's eyes narrowed, tensing up for a fight. Prompto's hand went behind his back, ready to call on his gun. "I believe this is our first time meeting."

"Yes, it is. I read about the four of you from the report General Ironwood gave me." The tension ceased to be with that, instead bringing new questions. The eight were familiar with that name. James Ironwood was a powerful member of the Atlesian military, holding a seat in the council and being the Headmaster of Atlas Academy.

On top of that, he was a General and head of the Atlesian Military Fleet's Sixth Armed Brigade. Of course, knowing all that, they were now curious about the girl's connection to her. The girl then proceeded to bow her head to Team RWBY. "At any rate, it is a pleasure to meet you all! My name is Penny."

"Um, right. Sure..." Ruby laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Um, I'm Ruby."

Weiss snapped herself out of her stupor and curtsied. "Weiss."

"Blake." the Faunus girl bowed her head whilst still suspicious.

"You sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked before Blake struck her in the ribs. "Oh. I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all!"

Blake sweat-dropped. "You...said that already."

"O-oh. So I did."

"Penny! There you are!"

A new voice called out from behind the group, causing them to turn. As Weiss's eyes met with the new individual, her mind froze for a brief moment. Approaching them was a teenager around their age with a slim build and light complexion.

He was garbed in the Atlesian military uniform, only colored black from head to toe. On his hands were black, fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of his hand. Attached to his waist was a sheathed rapier. His hair was messy and was colored red-violet. His eyes were an icy blue.

"Oh, friend Gawain!" Penny waved excitedly.

"I've been looking all over of you! You really shouldn't wander off like that." He admonished in concern.

Penny's face softened, bowing her head in shame. "Oh, I-I'm very sorry. I was just so excited, since this is my first time in Vale, and I..." She was stopped by Gawain, who ruffled her hair. Looking up, she found him smiling.

"Hey, don't worry about it." he assured her. "Just don't go running off like that." He then turned to the eight before him. "Sorry if Penny might have caused you trouble. This is her first time in Vale, so she's been excited."

"Nice to meet ya." Noctis greeted. "So, you're from Atlas?"

"Yep. Name's Gawain. Leader of Team GLAE (Glacier)." He extended a hand towards the prince, who accepted it and shook it. "And you are?"

"Noctis. And these are my friends."

"Noctis? As in, Noctis Lucius Caelum?" The man asked with wide eyes. He immediately lowered into a bow after breaking the handshake. "It is an honor to meet you, your highness. And I believe the three men behind you are your Crownsguard as well?"

The burly Crownsguard raised a hand in greeting. "Sup? The name's Gladio."

"Ignis." Ignis introduced himself with a bow. "A pleasure."

"I'm Prompto." the sharpshooter of LAPI waved, shaking his hand also. "Team LAPI, at your service!"

"I'm Yang." Yang went first, introducing Team RWBY as she grinned. "And the kitty cat over here is Blake!" Blake gave Yang a small glare, scowling at the name and making a mental note to punish her later. "This is Team RWBY's resident ice queen, Weiss!"

"Will you-!" Weiss wanted to argue, but strangely she couldn't find any strength. She looked back at Gawian, his face overlapping with another, before she sighed and shook her head. "Weiss. Weiss Schnee. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"And this is...er, Ruby?"

The group looked at the leader of Team RWBY. They half-expected her to be rather cheery and possibly want to as Gawain if she could see his weapon. That was not the case, however. She was frozen in place, her mouth open and her silver eyes wide as saucers.

Her face was also the same shade as her cloak. She seemed to be trying to talk, but all that came out was gibberish. "Are you alright?" Gawain asked, eyes glimmering with concern as he leaned over. "Your face is red. Do you have a fever?"

Ruby let out a squeak when he became too close. Steam was pouring out of her ears. In the next second, she vanished in a flurry of rose petals, surprising everyone. Yang looked over her shoulder, finding Ruby now burying her face in her back. "You okay, Ruby?" Prompto asked, worried about his friend. "Are you sick?"

'Oh, she's sick alright...' Yang grinned knowingly, fully aware of what Ruby was feeling. Her chibi-self was practically waving around the flag, cheering in delight. It seems her sister was finally discovering her inner "girl side!" Oh, she was going to have so much fun teasing her about this! "Don't worry. She's fine." she told them. "Anyway, this is my little sister, Ruby. She's the leader of our Team."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Gawain nodded cordially. "In all honesty, I never expected to run into the Crown Prince of Lucis and his entourage on today."

"Likewise." Ignis nodded. "By the way, I can't help but notice that your uniform is different from the other Atlas Students. Is there a particular reason for that?"

Gawain chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Ah, you noticed, huh?" he said rather sheepishly. "My team and I are special forces, you could say. Not military speaking, though. More of the bodyguard variety. Specifically for the High Councilman."

"Councilman Izunia?" Weiss asked with surprise. "That's...impressive."

"It is." Gawain nodded before he looked at Penny. "C'mon, Penny. I know you want to explore Vale, but we'll need to talk with the Professor first."

Penny pouted. "Oh...very well." She turned back to the eight people before her and bowed deeply. "It was a pleasure meeting all of you!"

"You too, Penny." Noctis nodded.

"See you later, friend." Ruby waved from behind Yang.

As they turned away, Penny suddenly stopped, turning around with large eyes. The group, however, was unaware of this and continued to walk away. "You sure you're okay Ruby?" Blake asked, noticing that Ruby's face was still red. She pressed her hand against her forehead, but found that she was only slightly warm. "You're not hot, so you don't have a fever."

"Oh, she's got a fever." Yang grinned. "She's got the loooooooove fever~"

Ruby nearly tripped over her feet, her blush increasing tenfold. "Wh-what?!" she squealed rather loudly, flailing her arms about. "T-that isn't-! That's not! I-I mean-!"

"So...she's got a crush? Like when Yang had one on-GACK!" Prompto questioned before the brawler smacked him in the throat to shut him up.

The blonde sharpshooter then fell to the ground, clutching his throat and coughing. "Walked right into that one..." Gladio shook his head at Prompto's stupidity. "Still, love at first sight, huh? That's sort of romantic."

"Not to mention kind of unbelievable." Blake shook her head. "I've read about it in stories and plays, but didn't think it was possible in real life. I mean, you only just met the guy, Ruby."

"That's right." Weiss nodded. "I find it hard to believe that it's anything more than a simply crush."

" _Will you guys knock it off_?!" Ruby screeched as her face burned even more. When the shame became too great, she pulled her hood over her head. " _You guys suck_!"

"C'mon, sis." Yang wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "There no shame in admitting you have a crush. It just shows that you're still a girl and not just some weapons nut."

"You suck, Yang!" Ruby pouted.

"If I may bring matters back on topic, weren't we searching for that Faunus from earlier?"

"That's right!" Weiss remembered why they were here. "Where could he have gone?"

But before she could take a step forward, Penny appeared before them. "What did you just say?"

The four girls and boys jumped in surprise, backpedaling as they looked back to the street corner where they met Gawain and Penny only moments again, the former looking on with a look that was torn between being exasperated or amused.

They then looked back at Penny, who was staring at them intently. "When did you-?!" Weiss gaped, looking back and forth in disbelief. "How did-?! What?!"

"Ruby, right?" Penny pressed between them, stepping in front of Ruby, who looked incredibly nervous. The look in Penny's eyes was intimidating. She felt like she was being put on trial and Penny was the judge. A very terrifying judge. "What did you call me?"

"U-uh...f-f-f-friend?"

"You said friend...am I really your friend?" The girl asked in wonder.

"Uh..." She looked past the girl to ask her other friends for help. Her team shook their heads and waved their arms no. On the other hand, Prompto, who had just recovered nodded his head while the rest of LAPI shrugged, looking slightly amused. "Uhm...sure. Why not?"

Her words caused Team WBY to fall to the ground whilst Penny looked as if Christmas had just arrived early.

"Sensational!" Penny cheered exuberantly. "We can paint each other's nails, try on cute clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"She's..." Weiss started as she got up to her feet. "Quite chipper..."

"Yes. Yes she is." Gawain shook his head with a smile. "I apologize, but this is the first time Penny has made actual female friends."

"Seriously?" Noctis asked with a frown. "What? Was she isolated all her life or something?"

Gawain sighed. "Something like that." He then looked back at Penny. "Come on, Penny. Ciel is probably running around town looking for you. We don't want to worry her anymore than we already have, do we?"

"Oh, that's right!" She nodded as she stepped back. "I'm sorry. But we must go. I'll see you around, friend Ruby!" She waved goodbye before following the violet haired man.

Ruby waved back, watching the two then disappear. "Well." Prompto said. "That was a heck of a meeting. Still, pretty nice. You made a friend today."

"Even if she was a little weird." Weiss remarked before she realized something. "Wait. If she's here from Atlas, then does that mean she's participating in the Vytal Festival?"

"Probably." Noctis shrugged.

The heiress frowned. "But, she hardly looks the part of a Huntress-in-training!"

"Says the girl in a dress." Blake snarked.

Weiss frowned as she folded her arms. "It's a combat skirt." she corrected. Ruby dashed to her side, joining her in the look with a serious ' _Yeah_!' before they exchanged a slap of encouragement. Then she once again remembered why they had been in such a panic and thrown into a run. "Shoot! We forgot about that Faunus!"

"Who, me?"

" _KYAH_!" Weiss yelped, leaping high into the air and landing in Ruby's arms. Everyone turned around to see Sun standing where Weiss was, a cheery grin on his face as he waved. Weiss looked at Ruby, now realizing her position and promptly scowled.

Ruby smiled sheepishly as she gently set her back down on the feet. Cheeks flushed in embarrassment for such a thing, she glared at the blonde and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Has no one told you about never sneaking up on people before?!"

"They might have, but I saw an opportunity to scare the pants of an Ice Queen."

"HEY!"

The Monkey Faunus chuckled as he put his hands behind his head. "So, should I feel worried that I've got four guys who look they're in a rock band chasing me down or flattered that four cute girls are also after me?" He gave a quick glance at Blake and winked at her again, causing her to look surprised. "More importantly, you guys gonna arrest me?"

"Oh no, nothing like that." Gladio waved a hand in dismissal. "Weiss just wanted to scope out the competition for the Vytal Festival, since the students from Shade Academy are coming here." Weiss looked at the man, as if she had been betrayed.

He returned it with a flat look that pretty much told her that he had no reason to hide anything from the teen they were chasing after before he continued. "Though I don't think we expected to find a guy hiding on a ship."

"Well, to be fair, I kinda got on the wrong ship." the Faunus said rather sheepishly. "Also, I'm not from Shade. I'm from Haven."

Ruby blinked. "Really?"

"Yep. I was born in Vacuo, though." He gave them another grin as he swept into a grandiose bow. "The name's Sun Wukong. The Leader of Team SSSN! ...and no, I didn't name the team that. Blame Professor Lionheart for that."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sun." Ruby gestured to her team. "I'm Ruby. That's Weiss, Blake, and my older sister Yang. We're Team RWBY. And before YOU ask, it was Professor Ozpin who named us that."

Sun laughed. "Good to know I'm not alone there!" He then turned to the Lucians. "And you guys?"

"Team LAPI, at your service." Ignis nodded. "I'm Ignis. This is Noctis, Prompto and Gladio."

Sun cocked his head, staring at the Lucians in confusion. "...aren't you and the big guy a bit old to be on a Team for high school kids? Er, no offense."

"None taken." Noctis assured him. "We're representatives from Lucis."

"Oh...so you guys are part of the exchange program then?"

"Indeed we are. I believe it's safe to assume that Haven has received their Lucian representatives as well?"

"Yep. They arrived at the start of the school year. So, since you guys are scoping out the competition, what do you think of me?"

"So far?" Yang quirked an eyebrow with a teasing smile. "Other than killer abs, not so much."

Sun gave a fake gasp, clutching the spot where his heart was. "Oof! Your words, they wound me! Kidding aside, do you know where the ports are for when the boat from Haven comes in?"

"I believe they don't come in until a few days, but the docks are over by the southern end of town." Ignis informed him. "If I may ask, though...how on Earth did you get on board a cargo ship from Vacuo rather than one from Mistral?"

Sun's cheeks turned cherry red as he scratched the back of his head in shame. "Okay, there's a long story behind that one. You see, we were on a mission out near the borders of Vacuo and..."

* * *

It was evening when Roman received a call from Cinder. He was hardly in a happy mood, so getting a call from his least favorite person wasn't doing him any favors. Plus, he was irritated by how slow business was progressing. At the rate things were going, he was going to be extremely bored when there was no more Dust to collect.

The rather large stack of crates containing hundreds of millions of lien's worth he was sitting on was testament to that.

"I swear, one of these days..." Roman growled as he pocketed his Scroll once the call was over and done with. "I'm going to ram my stick right in her face when I get the chance." From the corner of his eye, his right-hand woman giggled at his misfortune, leaving him to roll his eyes. "Laugh it up, Neo. You hate that bitch as much as I do."

Neo was a bit on the short side, though you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone other than Roman tell her that due to the particularly dangerously sharp sword that was hidden in that parasol of hers. She could always be found wearing a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips.

She also wore a multitude of necklaces, which hung haphazardly around her neck. Her hair was stylized and hanged down to her shoulders, one half colored brown and the other half colored pink with a white streak on the right side. Her eyes were odd as well, as when she blinked, they shifted back and forth between brown, white and pink.

The woman was very infamous due to her brutal nature. Roman liked her because, not only was she quite showy, she always went straight to the point and never messed around. When she wanted something done, she didn't rely on grunts. She went and did it herself. She didn't beat around the bush.

Also, she had a killer bod. Really, what criminal mastermind was complete without his sexy assistant? Her being quite thorough in her work was another added bonus.

Neo still looked quite amused at Roman's irritation. The man gave her a small glare before he shook his head. He hopped off the crate he was sitting on and clapped his hands, earning the attention of the White Fang soldiers.

"Alright, you filthy animals, listen up!" he shouted. "Our employer just gave us a call. Tomorrow night, a particularly large Dust shipment will be arriving at the docks. This will be our biggest haul yet, and I think it just might be one you all will enjoy!"

"Why's that?" someone asked.

Roman smirked. "Because... It's Schnee Dust cargo." Now THAT got their attention. All of them became eager at the prospect of stealing from the very corporation that forced their kind into slave labor to mine their precious commodity. "Now, I hope you're all as eager as I am for this." The mobster continued. "Cuz this will be our biggest heist yet, gentlemen! We can't afford to screw this up."

"For your sake, we better not, Torchwick." A new voice interjected.

The mobster looked up and smirked. "Heeey, Plague old buddy. Glad you could join us."

"I was preocccupied with a different matter. But I shall be joining you in this operation. Along with one other whom you know so well..."

Roman raised an eyebrow, tilting his head as a figure beside the masked man stepped into view. One that all White Fang members saluted. From where she stood, Neo had a faint blush on her cheeks and looked at the man with a cross between affection and insane revere.

It was a figure of medium build clad in black body armor with a gunmetal chest plate and red streaks. Wrapped around his shoulders was a cloak that also served as a hood. Attached to his waist was a katana with a customized sheath. On his hands were clawed gauntlets with red veins. The most prominent feature about him was the horned Grimm mask that resembled a Nucklavee Grimm. Beneath the mask and hood, one could faintly make out strands of black hair. Burning beneath the eyeholes of the mask were burning crimson eyes that glowed like fire.

Roman felt a chill run down his spine, despite the fact that it felt as if the room had gotten several degrees warmer. "Speak of the Devil and he shall appear, huh?" Roman remarked, shifting uncomfortably. "So, what's the Lieutenant to Khan and the head honcho of the Fang here in Vale doing here, hanging out with human scum like yours truly? Hopefully not to turn me into charcoal. I'm quite fond of this hat, thank you very much."

Devil scoffed. "Joking around won't get you anywhere, Roman Torchwick." he said, voice heavily filtered and with a sense of authority. "The only reason I'm here is because two people from the Atlesian Military are here in Vale. One of them is the High Councilman's bodyguard."

"That so? So the head honcho of the most technologically advanced Kingdom is here? And let me guess...you want to kill them?"

"That goes without saying." Devil bobbed his head once. "While securing the Dust is a high priority, it would be beneficial to us to eliminate any and all opposition."

Roman sighed. "Great..." He did not like crap like this. Ask him to steal something? Fine. But asking him to kill someone? Just too damn troublesome. Especially what it meant, considering they were pretty much asked to go after Ardyn Izunia's security detail. God knows what that would do.

If it brought the Kingsglaive to his front door...yeah, screw his partnership with Cinder. He was going to take his chances. "So, how do we do this? One guy goes after the Dust and the other goes after the brat?"

"Correct. You and my men will see to it that the Dust is acquired. Plague will be there to provide cover fire in case guards decide to snoop around. I shall be there as well. Given the cargo, no doubt Atlas will send their most professional personnel to oversee its security. I will handle them personally."

Up on the catwalk, Neo giggled and waved a hand at Roman, making different hand gestures. The man frowned, as if contemplating something before he shrugged. "Fine. You can tag along, Neo." he said, causing the woman to grin with glee. "Hell, go nuts. Just don't go overboard! Bad enough I'm getting heat for working with the White Fang. I don't need lots of mutilated corpses to add to that."

"She couldn't be that bad." Plague said with disbelief.

Roman tipped his head. "You, obviously, have not worked with her, nor seen her when she gets, ah, _excited_. You ever heard the saying, boner for murder? She takes it a bit TOO literally sometimes..."

* * *

"I. Am. So. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOORED!"

By the time Team RWBY and LAPI returned to Beacon Academy, Ruby Rose was suddenly forced to remember what was possible the worst enemy that she had ever face in her relatively short career as a Huntress-in-training. An enemy worse than possibly any gangster, terrorist or Grimm.

Yes. The abominable monster that was homework.

Weiss rolled her eyes as she looked at her partner, turning away from her own schoolwork. "Come on, Ruby," she said sternly. "We only have forty more pages or so before we can take a break."

"I dunno, gonna have to agree with Ruby on this one," Yang said stiffly, suppressing the urge to yawn as she leaned back. "I'm getting bored here myself. Remind me again, WHY are we doing school work? Can't we just, you know, pretend we forget and turn it in later?"

"We could. By then we would get our ears chewed out by Oobleck's long winded lecture about the importance of diligence and learning." Blake replied.

"And I for one, won't stand it if we become poor in academic standing. Now, back to work everyone." The heiress added.

Ruby whined pitifully and turned back to her desk, glaring and somewhat hoping that the book on her dusk would somehow spontaneously combust and save her the trouble. Yang groaned and dived back into her essay, as she had been given a written paper of sorts, asking her about the long-term commercial effects of the World Crossing. Weiss was already half-done with the majority of her assignment, but she was also double-checking what she had written down to ensure that everything was perfect.

The only one who was heavily distracted was Blake. She was doing her reading, but she couldn't focus at all.

And the cause of it was the call she received from her friend not long after they had returned from Vale.

* * *

 _(Flashback, Two Hours Ago)_

 _"This is rare." Blake smiled as she stood outside the room. She figured the others would find her talking with someone over her Scroll would be sort of obnoxious, especially considering who one of her roommates was. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Adam?"_

 _[Oh, haha.] Adam's voice drawled out with unhidden irritation, likely from his work, and relief that she sounded like she was doing well. [Very funny, Blake.]_

 _The Cat Faunus giggled. "So, what's up? You usually only call me to vent about work or when you ask me how I'm doing."_

 _[It's partially both, but mostly about a different matter. To start off with, these kids are a handful. But then again, what can I expect from hormonal, easily excited teenagers who want to learn about Lucis and are antsy for the upcoming Assassin's Festival?]_

 _"Come on. They're just excited about studying abroad in a new Kingdom."_

 _[Maybe. Doesn't make the work less tedious. Second, how are you doing? Your classes going okay? Things going well with your team mates?]_

 _"I'm actually doing well, all things considered. The course work is rigorous, but nothing I can't handle. And things have been going well, aside from that incident in Forever Fall, and something disturbing we learned earlier today at the docks."_

 _[What happened?] The red swordsman inquired._

 _"There was a robbery at a Dust Store. Apparently, the police suspect the White Fang to be the culprits. I don't think that's the case."_

 _[Actually, that's what I wanted to discuss with you about.] Adam stated, his tone solemn._

" _Wait, what? Adam, you know it can't be true. Sienna would never take things that far." Blake argued._

 _[I know Sienna Khan wouldn't. But her Lieutenant, however, is a different story...]_

 _Blake frowned. "Her lieutenant?"_

 _[Yeah. You wouldn't know him, since he came into the spotlight a little after you left the glaive, but Sienna appointed someone to be her right-hand man. Someone who's got quite the vindictive streak and has been pushing both Sienna and Ghira's patience.]_

 _"What do you mean? Is he that bad?"_

 _[Bad...doesn't even quite cover it. He takes Sienna's policy of using force to unprecedented levels. Lethal...levels.]_

 _Blake's eyes widened. For a moment, she thought her heart had nearly stopped in fright. "W-what?" she gasped, genuinely panicked. "If he's that dangerous and violent, why hasn't Sienna done something? Someone like that couldn't possibly stay in the Fang! Father may have left, but he still has enough sway!"_

 _[Unfortunately, neither are able to do anything.] Adam sighed with regret. [He's earned quite a bit of support. Even though Lucis has done a lot for Faunus, and more importantly, for those of us in Menagerie, he plays on their worst fears. The same doubts that the Hoods have been hammering on us.]_

 _"You mean, he's advocating about how the Lucians enslaved and oppressed us under false promises?!"_

 _[Unfortunately...yes.]_

 _"But that's crazy!"_

 _[I know. If I wasn't part of the Glaive, or under the Grand Marshall's tutelage, I probably would've believed it myself. I don't know how...but this guy has a lot of influence over those he has in his clutches.]_

 _"Just who is this guy?!" She needed to know who is the one causing such dissension._

 _[I don't know much about him. But he calls himself Flaemis. Others have taken to calling him the Devil.]_

 _"Do we at least know what he looks like?" If she knew his appearance, maybe she could stop him._

 _[Blake, I know what you're thinking. Don't you DARE chase after him. He's dangerous for a reason. And no. I don't know what he looks like. He's kept his appearance concealed even during recruitment. So don't even bother trying to figure it out.]_

 _Adam's voice was cold and harsh with an edge. Blake shivered. That was the tone he often used whenever he had slipped into his role as a Captain. He was making it dangerously clear that she shouldn't do anything._

 _Even if she wasn't apart of the Glaive anymore...she knew better than to go against his words. He was only trying to look after her. She was like the little sister he's never had. She knew that from the bottom of her heart._

 _She sighed heavily. "Okay...I promise."_

* * *

 _(Flashback End)_

Yet no matter how hard she tried to think away from it, her mind kept racing back to that conversation. To what Adam had told her about "Flaemis."

He was an enigma...yet someone who has earned Sienna Khan's trust to be deemed as her right hand. However, it seems that trust was now strained to the point of breaking. Ever since his coronation as Lieutenant, he has obtained the support a majority of the Fang by spewing anti-Lucian propaganda featuring the Kingdom abusing their Faunus like the rest of Remnant.

He preyed on their fears and fueled them to feed his anti-human movement. Why was he doing this? Couldn't he see how much good they've done? In Lucis, nobody had to hide who they were. They didn't have to shy away from the truth. They could be themselves.

They were even regarded with admiration there, especially for those who pursued the occupation of Hunter, Crownsguard or Kingsglaive. Yet this Flaemis thought otherwise. Why? What was he trying to accomplish?

The more Blake thought about it, the more confused she became. And it showed. "Blake?" She looked up, finding a concerned Ruby and Yang looked at her, away from their own homework materials. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You look really pensive." Yang added. "Way more than usual."

Blake frowned. Had she really been so transparent? "I'm fine." she lied, not wanting to concern them with her own thoughts before she tried to mimic a smile. "Just dueling with unpleasant thoughts."

"Was it about that phone call?" Weiss inquired curiously. "Family or friend?"

"Bit of both. He was just worried about me here at Beacon is all..."

"'He'?" Yang leaned forward, a Cheshire smile on her face as she propped herself on her elbow. "Oho~ Blakey, I didn't peg you for such a naughtly little kitty cat!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Adam isn't my boyfriend, Yang." she admonished her partner. "He's more like my older brother. Try and get your head out of the gutter."

"Alright, alright. I get what you're saying..." She backed away before her smirk returned. "...You're more interested in monkey-boy, right? I mean, he's got those wicked abs."

"Yang!" Blake retorted with slightly flushed cheeks. "I'm being serious here!"

Weiss shook her head. "Will you knock it off?" she said without looking away from her assignment. "What Blake does in her time is none of our business."

"Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud, _Weiss Cream_."

"Don't call me that."

"Fine. Ice Queen, then!"

Weiss' eyebrow twitch. "...Xiao Long. Do you fancy being frozen alive? I've been told its a very painful thing." To emphasize her threat, a glyph was already made beneath the brawler's feet.

"Wh-whoa there! Let's not be hasty!"

"Then shut up." The white haired girl then turned to her black haired team mate. "What's really wrong, Blake? You've been spacing out for the past several minutes."

The girl bit her lip. Weiss' stare was intense, as if daring her to lie. After a moment of contemplation, she sighed and set her book down, bookmarking it and closing it shut before she turned to her team. "Adam called me because he was concerned about the White Fang here in Vale."

Weiss' frown increased, swiveling away from her homework. Ruby, now fully concerned, turned around and flipped her legs on either side of the backrest of her chair. Yang lost all signs of her cheery teasing expression and sat upright. "What do you mean?" Ruby asked. "Did something happen?"

"When the old leader of the White Fang stepped down and joined the Kingsglaive, Sienna Khan stepped up and assumed leadership. She thought that protests and boycotts weren't doing enough. Not even with the recognition and equality we were given by Lucis. That was around the same time the Fang started pushing more towards violent actions.

"But she always made sure they never crossed the point where our brothers and sisters would never be persecuted so harshly, simply because of the actions of a single group who thought what they were doing was right." She took a deep breath, releasing a hefty sigh and closed her eyes.

"Adam told me that, a little over a year ago, she announced a new Lieutenant. One that has been pushing the limits of what Sienna considered 'violence.'"

"Devil." All eyes turned to Weiss, who's face had lost any calmness. Instead, there was a burning fury. It was silent and restrained, as was expected of an elegant heiress, but the burning fire of anger in her icy blue eyes could not be mistaken for anything else nor hidden.

"I know of him. My father was constantly receiving threats, day in and day out. And recently, over the past year, the Schnee company was attacked. It wasn't anything new. We've always been harshly attacked and accused of unfavorable working conditions and taking advantage of our work labor. I've lost family members and the company lost board members. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that we were at war."

Her hands gripped the hem of her skirt, teeth gnashed together. Horrible memories played back before her decision to leave home for Beacon. Her father's face, contorted with fury as he constantly ripped apart letters and lashed out at his wife. And at times, even his own children.

"But when Devil showed up...it only got worse. MUCH worse."

"...What do you mean...?" Blake was almost too afraid to ask.

"My father continued to receive threats. But this time, they were carried out to the letter. Dust Shipments stolen, personnel and company workers killed and mutilated, each act of crime worse than the last. They all advocated one thing...the eradication of the Schnee Dust Company."

The look of horror on all three girls spoke on what Weiss had thought of it when it all happened. Of course, such feelings were only made worse when her father had received word of it or was shown the horrible Faunus bastard's handiwork. Her mother had turned to drinking not long after it became apparent that Jacques Schnee, her father, did not marry her out of love nor wanted anything to do with his family. When Devil came into the picture, however, her father soon turned to the bottle. And with it came drunk outbursts and violence.

It had been the only time she had seen Whitley so afraid.

"...you wanted to know why I despise the White Fang, Blake? I despise them for ruining my family. While I admit that some actions were well received due to our negligence or abuse of power, I don't really care for matters concerning the company or my father. Do you know why...the _sole reason_ why, I despise them so much?" Weiss asked as she looked Blake in the eye. The heiress's eyes were still furious, yet they contained unshed tears.

"...it's because they took my twin brother away from me."

Ruby and Yang looked at one another, a new understanding shared between them at that moment before looking at Weiss. The silver-eyed girl got up, walking over to her partner and gently wrapping her arms around her. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked tenderly.

Weiss didn't say anything at first. She lowered her head, staring at the floor before a tear fell from her face, dropping to the floor. The heavy silence in the air gave way to it, along with another falling tear.

"...his name was Blanc." she started. "He...he was the best big brother a girl could...could ask for. He was only older than a few seconds...but he gave off the feel of a true older sibling. He...he was smart...kind. He helped me in any way he could...he was also very strong. A prodigious fighter. We learned this when he was eight. Give him any weapon, and he could use it and fight.

"But...he never inherited the Schnee semblance..." She sniffed before rubbing her eyes in a futile attempt to cease her tears. "F-Father deemed him a failure because of that...but Mother, Winter, Grandfather Nicholas and I...we didn't see him any different. But he wanted father's acceptance...so he trained and trained until his bones ached. He fought whatever practice dummies father could arrange. He's been hurt many times...yet he continued to smile in spite of it..."

"He sounds like one hell of a fighter..." Yang smiled sadly.

"He...he was..." A small smile touched her lips. "Even during the bad times...he always told me to never lose hope. That things will be better. Then...after our tenth birthday..." Her voice hitched in a sob.

"...what happened?" Blake was almost afraid to ask.

Weiss sobbed for a little while longer, tears choking her voice. After a moment, she wiped away her tears and took a shaky breath and continued on, her voice cracked. "H-he...he was kidnapped...it was another White Fang attack. But this time...they took him. They took Blanc...they demanded ransom or he would die..." She hiccuped.

"And...what happened next?" Yang asked, almost dreading the answer.

Weiss' grip on her skirt grew. Ruby worried that she might tear the fabric and held her more tightly. Especially with how she was. The sight reminded her of her own father, on the nights when he couldn't sleep and found himself remembering the loss of two loves of his life.

"...that's the worst part." Weiss choked. "We don't know. We don't know if he died, or... My father tried searching for him for months. He refused to give in to demands. Then we found out...we found out that the place where the White Fang was had been destroyed. There was smoke. Fire."

She rubbed her eyes to dry new tears before continuing. "...and there were...there were bodies...so many bodies...all charred or...or destroyed beyond recognition...they found...they found so survivors... None of them...matched Blanc's stature. S-so we thought he might still be alive."

Blake gulped down a nervous lump in her throat. Hearing Weiss, who she had known for at least a few months now, a girl who was haughty as one might expect from being an heiress to a corporate juggernaut, breaking down so horribly. She didn't know how to feel. She didn't know to just walk up to Weiss and tell her it would be okay.

How could she? What could she say to even so much as justify that response? And the worst part...she honestly knew that what she spoke of happened before her father stepped down from his position as High Leader of the Fang.

"...did you ever...find him?"

"...no..." She whispered morbidly. "...We never did...and it's been seven years since then...he's just been classified as deceased recently..."

Once again, silence fell over the room. No one was able to say anything to her. Weiss' eyes were slightly red from crying, and her throat hurt. Ruby, in a chance of comfort, held her tightly as if to assure her that she wasn't alone. In a moment of weakness, Weiss kindly accepted it and returned it gratefully. She normally wouldn't have said anything about Blanc.

Even if these people were her teammates, she didn't think she would ever open up to them to this extent. Her brother had always been a sore subject in her life. She rarely ever spoke of it. Much less even gave it any thought. Her breakdown was the reason why. She was a Schnee. She was meant to be perfect, to uphold the name and become someone that could lead it down the proper path.

If she broke down like this, how could she hope to achieve that dream?

Sniffling, she did her best to end the crying. She broke away from Ruby's hug and ran her arm over her face again, trying to wipe away the tears again. This time, she was successful. Her eyes were still dry. They were red, irritated from all that crying and sobbing.

"...now do you get it?" Weiss asked hoarsely, staring at Blake with a conflicted expression. "Why I hate the White Fang?"

"W-Weiss...I'm-I'm sorry...I didn't know..." Blake looked down, no longer able to look the girl in the eye. "I've always tried to believe that the White a Fang couldn't be that evil...I didn't think about how many they hurt."

"Well, now you know." Weiss said, almost scathingly before she stood up. "I need some fresh air."

Before Ruby could stop her, the white-haired girl walked out of the room, softly shutting it behind her.

* * *

"Is everything all set for tomorrow night?" Roman asked.

"Yes sir." A white fang grunt saluted as the others loaded the cargo. "All troops are armed. All equipment is maintained and prepped. The ships are all fueled and ready to go."

"Haha...excellent." Roman grinned. "This will be the heist of the century!"

He couldn't help but laugh as he spun his cane around. Really, he should have learned to enjoy this stuff more, considering how rare it was to get involved in this kind of stealing. He only knew that it was a Schnee Dust cargo he was robbing, but he didn't bother to look at how much Dust they were transporting. When he did take a look at it, in order to see what kind of guards were going to be at the shipyard tomorrow night, he was positively floored.

"Dust prices are going to be through the roof if we pull this off." the mafiaso laughed. "If we were to sell this shit, we'd be on easy street for life!"

"Don't get so worked up, Roman." Plague told him, casually flipping a bullet cartridge in his hand. "After all, security will be tight."

Roman rolled his yes. "Oh, please. They'll be cakewalk."

"Maybe." the man conceded. "But it pays to be prepared." He hopped off the crate, pocketing his cartridge before walking off and looking at the White Fang soldiers. "Rest up. Come tomorrow night...we hit Jacque Schnee and all of Vale right where it hurts."

At his words, the Faunus raised their fists, howling in cheers and roars of pre-determined victory. No one knew what was about to happen tomorrow. And even if they did, there was no stopping what was about to happen.

After all, no one could predict a bloodbath.

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _ **Chapter: END**_

 **Next Time: Night of the Phantoms**

* * *

 **Demons Anarchy of Pride** **:** Okay, before the people who go ranting about the Ruby falling in love at first sight start raising the pitch forks, let me ease your worries and saying that it isn't. It's more like a minor crush. A small like. She's not actually in love with the guy. Additionally, the inclusion of "Blanc Schnee" is apart of the Butterfly Effect that we've pretty much been establishing with this crossover. After all, introducing a new kingdom to a world is going to be changing things up. Besides, in fanfiction, it isn't very fun to just be rehashing canon. We want to do something different...even if it means including OC's.

Naturally, some people might not like that. Hell, one reviewer in my RWBY: Final Judgement story dropped it simply because I had one OC in the story. And he was a member of my protagonist's team.

We get it if you will drop this story because of the inclusion of OC's, but those who stick around, thank you. And especially big thanks for sticking around with us this far. You people are the best. We're wrapping up Volume I next chapter, and we hope you will enjoy the finale!

So before we end this puppy...Daemon old buddy? Any last thoughts?

 **Daemon of Wrath:** Nope. I think you pretty much covered everything. But I will say this:

To those who argue that it is illogical for Lucis to not take action against Ardyn, we will say this. Ardyn Izunia is the man who successfully manipulated the Nifleheim Empire for years. While it may be true that he appeared out of nowhere since the World Crossing, he struck a deal with Salem, who has Arthur Watts, an Atlas Specialist and Doctor on her side. With him, it wouldn't be crazy to construct false records for him to appear as a nameless civilian. After which he would ascend to political power to become stated as high councilman. And you also forget. This story happens approximately twenty years before canon time in FFXV, meaning the fact that Ardyn is the cause of the Starscourge and Daemons have not been aware by the Lucians. And in the Kingsglaive Movie, Regis recognized him as the Imperial Chancellor. In FFXV, Ardyn rose to the Chancellor Seat to become closer to the Lucis bloodline through the means of instilling conflict through Magitek machinations, and the eventual Daemons.

While Lucis could say that Ardyn is a war criminal, just what crimes has he committed? He was merely on the other side in a war between them and the Empire. He was simply doing his job as Chancellor in a seat of political power. Just what crimes against humanity has he done up to that point in time, which I repeat, is 20 years before canon, when his true crimes are brought to light?

Also, Ardyn Izunia is a charismatic manipulator. He rose high into political power once with Nifleheim, he could it again in Atlas. He'd be able to play on their fears of Lucis being to powerful, and reassure them that with his assistance, they would be ready with equal strength. He manipulates those in power to further his own goals.

These are the factors why Lucis does not want to call Ardyn out. While they know his identity as Nifleheim's Chancellor, the other Kingdoms are not too well-versed in their history. While others will believe them, there are others still suspicious. While it may be true that he is from their world, as they say, they can't quite pursue him as he, in reality, has done nothing wrong directly. He only serves the other side of the war, and is adviser to the Emperor.

Also, just when did we even say when Ardyn made his debut in the story? We didn't say which point in time. You are just making assumptions. Ardyn made his debut not too long after Lucis' appearance in Remnant. He appeared early on and used these uncertainties to his advantage and rose to power.

If you readers drop this story because you don't like OCs, then that's fine. But we have a plan of how this story will play out, and it will diverge from both the RWBY and Final Fantasy XV storylines. And these OCs are a component for that plan. We also included them to factor in as character development for certain characters that will be demonstrated as time goes on.

And to those who continue to stick around: Thank you for supporting us and this story. We hope you will enjoy for what shall come.


	16. Chapter 16

**Co-Written with and Edited by Starlight's Poet**

* * *

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover** **  
** _ **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**_

* * *

 **Chapter X: The Night of the Phantoms**

* * *

Days had passed since the events that took place in the dorm of Team RWBY and another day had come. However, much to the dismay of the red hooded leader and blonde brawler, the monochrome duo of the team had become withdrawn and silent. They couldn't blame either of them. Weiss had practically spilled her guts about why she hated the White Fang so much and had a near emotional breakdown. Blake on the other hand felt guilt for bringing up such terrible memories for her team mate. All in all, things had taken a turn for the awkward.

Even their friends from Team LAPI noticed this when they saw each other at breakfast. JNPR had arrived and also noticed the heavy tension as well, which Nora had tried to alleviate. Much to her dismay, however, nothing of what she tried to do could cheer them up. Weiss remained silent or otherwise ignorant of the jokes and conversation. Blake had left the table, unable to meet their eyes and claiming she was done with breakfast...even though her plate was still half-full.

Eventually, as classes neared, Ruby and Yang had pulled Noctis and Ignis away. "Okay, this is just getting awkward." Yang said with a heavy frown, folding her arms. "Weiss is still sulking, and Blake is just avoiding her like the plague. We need to get those two to make up or something."

"Just what happened between those two?" Noctis couldn't help but ask. "Did they get into an argument or something?"

"Something like that..." Ruby said, not wanted to give too much away. It wouldn't be right to tell them about Blanc without Weiss' permission.

"Let's just say Weiss was carrying some baggage that kind of hit a sore spot with Blake." Yang offered a lousy excuse, though thankfully Noctis seemed to understand that they didn't want to violate their friend's privacy. "And now whenever those two are together, things get really awkward."

"And what do you suppose we do to amend this matter?" Ignis questioned them. "An issue such as this does not seem to be easily resolved."

"We were hoping you guys can help us think of something." Ruby answered. "I don't know...something to get them distracted and have them make up once they have a break?"

The Prince put a hand to his chin. "Kind of hard to do, since we really don't know much about them." he said with a frown. "I mean, we've only known each other for a good month or two. Other than that... Sorry, Ruby. But I don't know how we're supposed to help."

Ruby's face fell, but otherwise nodded in understanding. She should have expected as much. Now that she thought about it, she really didn't know much about her teammates either other than Yang. It was natural for her to know Yang as well as she did, but other than what Weiss had spilled out from last night... She didn't know Blake or her partner. There was trust there, yes, but in the end, they were still strangers that just shared a room together and fought together, merely acting like sisters.

They truly didn't know one another at all. They kept their secrets to themselves. They never opened up to each other and that saddened her. Ruby wanted to think and believe that her team was pretty well run and trusted each other, but given how they just all kept to themselves...

It was very disheartening for her. She was supposed to be the leader! That meant she was responsible for her team's welfare! Including whatever problems they might face! If she couldn't get Blake and Weiss to reconcile somehow, then she would be a failure as a leader! It would be like proving many claims that Ozpin made a mistake, letting someone so young attend Beacon!

"...perhaps you could take a page from Miss Adel's book and try shopping therapy?" Ignis suggested, causing Ruby to look at him and lean forward. "It would take quite a bit of work, but you should be able to force the two girls to go with you on a sort of bonding session of sorts."

Noctis groaned. "You mean like the one you had me go on with Gladio and Prompto when they wouldn't talk to each other for a month after what happened with Iris' birthday party?"

"You know as well as I do that what happened was an accident, Noct."

"Gladio still holds it over Prompto's head whenever he gets the chance to take a crack at the guy. Sure, I know he means it as a joke, but he was still sorry about the whole thing."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. Iris? Who was that? From the sound of it, she was probably someone close to Gladio and them. Still, Ignis' idea had some merit to it. Of course, she would have to think of a way to actually get Blake and Weiss to actually agree to this without backing out of it. She looked over to Yang, who seemed to already have an idea working out in her head. She could practically see the gears turning in her head, formulating the plan as they speak.

As of now, she felt kind of sorry for her friends should they be dragged off to another shopping spree by her sister.

"Well, thanks for the idea, Ignis." Ruby said, grateful for the man's assistance as she bowed her head.

Ignis smiled thinly as he waved a hand. "It was my pleasure."

The two girls then made their way off back to the table, leaving the Prince and his Crownsguard alone. "You think they'll be able to patch things up?"

"It's hard to say for now. All we can do is hope things will work out in the end." the man answered. "Not everything can be fixed overnight. It will be a work in progress, but at the very least, we can give her the first few steps."

"Yeah, I guess." Noctis said before he joined he and Ignis made their way back to the lunch table. "By the way, you seen the news about the new mutated Grimm that Ruby and her friends ran into back in their field trip?"

"Hard not to when everyone is talking about it." Ignis sighed. "There are several theories, though a good deal of the minority claim that the appearance of these bizarre Grimm are a result of the World Crossing. Chances are, that minority is the Anti-Lucian Federation." He could only shake his head, genuinely disappointed that after all of this time, people still haven't let go of the past tragedies.

Perhaps Lucis was part of the reason why many people lost their lives to the strange weather phenomenon, but even so, they couldn't keep clinging to the past. "Of course, a good majority are more curious behind the mysterious crystal-like growths on their bodies, as well as the fact that they are capable of bleeding."

"And they apparently don't immediately dissipate when they die, either."

"Indeed. That fact alone has gotten many scientists raving at the possibility of thoroughly studying them. They would not fear having them break apart mid-examination."

Of course, that fact had later been disproved as coroners later discovered that this new sub-species of Grimm also broke down into black particles that seemingly evaporated, though this was only after the crystal growths from their bodies had completely disintegrated. It was speculated that these growths served as some sort of indicator that somehow prolonged a Grimm's body. Unfortunately, since the crystal growths broke down so quickly, coroners barely had any time to perform any sort of autopsy.

It just raised further questions about these new mutated Grimm's existence. And yet no one was even remotely aware that such creatures were not even of newly made from the darkened brew like their fellow kin...

* * *

It was the day of the operation, yet night was not yet descending. It was still early in the day, thus Devil had time to make preparations. Thus, he arrived at a rather impressive facility, lined with white halls filled to the brim with machinery and test tubes containing either Grimm or individuals stuck in some sort of plain brown suit with tubes sticking out of them, curled into the fetal position and hooked up to some sort of device inside the tube. The same could be said about the Grimm inside the tubes, but rather than tubes, there were spikes stabbing into their flesh. Connected to those spikes were tubes that also connected to machinery. What was flowing inside the tubing was anyone's guess, but Devil could hazard a guess.

However, he was not here for them. No, he came here for something else. He ignored the androids, armed to the teeth with weaponry that would make the Atlesian Army green with envy, and entered a wide laboratory. It was an utter mess, as countless bulky machines, be them gigantic consoles, generators or glass containers with a subject inside. Wires littered the floor, scattered and snaking about and proving a hazard for anyone unlucky to be caught in it.

In the center of all of this mess of wires and machinery was a disheveled man, dressed in a white lab coat that went down to his knees. The high collar was slightly undone, revealing a red undershirt that crawled up his neck and partially hiding the bits of metal embedded into his skin. His hair was absolutely horrid, sticking out all over the place and utterly messy with a rather impressive mustache and beard to match. However, while most of his body was hidden by his lab coat, his right arm was left in plain view, revealing it to be metallic with glowing red circuits that lay inside the plating that covered it like skin. His left eye was also glowing menacingly red in the dark shadows created by his workplace, yet his right eye remained cold blue.

"Hello, Doctor Merlot." Devil greeted as the man turned, hearing his approach and moving away from a console. "I hear from Wraith you've had good results with the Stage 1 Prototypes."

"Oh more than good, my friend! Simply Stupendous!" The doctor let out a grin that nearly split his face. "The results were absolutely phenomenal! It has directed my research to new heights. Future experiments will be more efficient than before. Oh...I can already see the data being generated from them."

"Right..." Devil shrugged, knowing well enough to leave the Doctor to his own eccentricities. "Going back on topic, have you completed what I have asked of you?"

Merlot scratched his chin. "More or less. Though as you might have expected, the results were...varied."

He turned back to the console and tapped a few buttons. On cue, one of the glass tanks before him suddenly became lit up, revealing a specimen that resembled a human being. It certain had all the features. It had arms, legs, hands, feet, toes and fingers as well as a torso and head. It had eyes, a nose, ears and a mouth as well as a full head of hair. Since it also had scales along its body, it was also evident of being a Faunus. However, it was also wrong. Twisted in a way that couldn't be considered human. Its skin had turned into a black color that revealed throbbing purple veins, random fingers on its hands being elongated and resembling sharpened knives. Its lizard-like tail had also developed sharp spikes, which flicked about wildly like a flail.

And there was its eyes. The sclera was completely red and its irises completely overwhelmed in a mixture of azure and forest green with the pupil sharpened into a slit.

The specimen in the tube wailed about, swinging its arms and legs in a futile attempt to escape while screaming unintelligible messes that sounded more like slurred roars than nonsensical gibberish.

"This is one of the more...successful subjects." Merlot told him, folding his hands behind his back. "As you can see, the Daemon Cells have already acclimated well within his body, corrupting his Aura and physiology. When applied to a subject that has yet to unlock its Aura, it becomes a Daemon. However, when afflicted upon one who does have access to Aura, the Daemon Cells slowly begin to fuse itself with it. Thus, they become an entirely new breed of creature. I call this process, _Daemification_."

Devil's eyes narrowed beneath the mask, putting a hand to his hip. "Impressive."

"Hardly." Merlot disagreed, causing Devil to look at him in confusion. "Though the subject is alive, albeit reduced to an animal relying on its baser instincts, it is merely a bump in the road. A failure in my opinion. You see, there are three stages in Daemifcation. The first stage is what you see before you, when under 30% of the subject's Aura has been corrupted. They are mindless and act on impulse. Little more than rabid dogs. Stage 2 is when 50% has been reached. This is the stage where the subject begins to develop the instincts and abilities of a Daemon, whilst still possessing the combat prowess of when they were still human. Stage 3 is when over 75% has been corrupted. By this point, the subject has become a full-fledged Daemon, complete with the instincts and combat capabilities of a Huntsman! Theoretically, it is possible for a Daemon to even possess a Semblance, albeit substantially weaker compared to when they were still alive."

"I see... And this subject is Stage 1?" Merlot nodded. "...Open it."

The doctor blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"You said it relied on its instincts, yes?" Devil asked. "Then open the container."

Merlot was confused, but knew better than to question his superior. With a few keystrokes, the container suddenly began to pop open from the bottom with a hiss, allowing dark yellow fluids to gush out into the floor, draining through the grates. As it began to drain, the Daemonfied Fledgling flopped to the ground, growling and snarling as it clambered up to its feet. Devil then began to approach. Despite nearing a creature that could easily kill a man, his hands were nowhere near the katana that sat at his hip. The Fledgling looked up, found him coming towards it, and let out an inhuman screeched that made Merlot cringe, covering his ears. It lunged at him, hands stretched to rip out his throat.

In response, Devil gave it a mere backhand and sent it to the floor. Hissing, it got back up to find him glaring down at it. "...not bad." he said, slightly impressed. "Had that been a normal man, I would have snapped his neck alone with that. I suppose you're worth something." The Fledgling growled, preparing to launch yet another assault when, suddenly, it felt a wave of killer intent washing over it, causing it to freeze. A demonic looking wing, composed of pitch black flames with a red tint, suddenly erupted from behind Devil's back as his eyes developed an ominous, dark purple glow.

 _ **"...Kneel."**_

The creature trembled, it's instincts screamed at him that death was imminent should it refuse. It immediately fell on its knees. It's behavior had taken a 180, going from wild and rabid to quiet and obedient.

Then again, what could be expected of a mere beast when faced against someone of even greater caliber and presence?

"It would seem that it knows it's place. Good." He nodded curtly.

The demonic flames vanished, and his power faded. Even so, the Fledgling remained kneeling, head bowed. The sight was outlandish, yet at the same time, a sight to behold for Merlot as his left eye glowed with intensity. "In-incredible...!" he gasped in amazement. "I knew one blessed by the power of the Infernian was a sight to behold, but this is...beyond expectations! No, wait... Of course! Why didn't I realize it sooner?! The creature acts on instinct! A mere animal, recognizing that it stands before a predator!"

"Doctor." Devil turned to the man, all the while keeping an eye on the Daemonfied Fledgling in case it acted up. "How many Stage 1 subjects do you have?"

"Sadly, that is the only one. The others proved to be too...unwieldly. I was forced to put them down. Wraith had asked possession of the Stage 2 and 3 subjects. He believed that they could be of use for when it was time to begin Project Glauca."

"I see..." The White Fang lieutenant said neutrally. "No matter. While that is a bit disappointing, just a single Stage 1 should be enough."

"Sir? Might I ask...what do you plan to do with it?" Merlot couldn't help but question.

If it were possible, the grinning fangs on Devil's mask seemed to curve upward into a terrifying grin.

* * *

"...hey, Ruby? Have you seen any of my books?"

"No." the red themed girl replied as she worked on the assignment Professor Port had actually managed to assign them for once. That being a report on what was the most common Grimm in the Kingdom of Vale. "Why do you ask?"

"I can't find them." Blake said, looking around the room. "Not even the new ones I bought when we went with His Highness on that shopping trip into Vale."

At this time, Weiss had entered the room. Blake, seeing her, clammed up and looked away, choosing to go back to her search. Weiss, likewise, pretended that she never saw the Faunus girl and went over to her closet. Since today was laundry day, and it was the week after Ruby's turn to wash clothes, it was her turn to wash everyone's garments. When she opened up the closet though, she frowned heavily and looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Ruby?"

"What is it?" Ruby groaned. Couldn't she do her homework in peace?

"What happened to those clothes Yang bought us while we were out with Team LAPI?"

"Should be in our closet. Why?"

"Well, they aren't...along with the rest of our clothes."

"Wait, _what_?!" The team leader's head snapped over to look. Much to her shock, Weiss was right.

There was nothing but empty space.

"H-How...?!" She zipped over to the closet and inspected everywhere. Nothing. All of their clothes were gone. "WHAT?!"

This didn't make any sense! The closet was stuffed to the gil with clothes before! How in the world was it now empty?! Moreover, this was bad! Her favorite pajama bottoms were in the waste basket for Gods' sake! That was a birthday present! Wait, nevermind that! That was not important!

"How is that even possible?" Blake asked, a little less concerned than the others. "The doors are locked by an electronic key. The only ones who could have gotten into the room are us since our Scrolls are registered. More important, who in the world would want to steal clothes?"

Weiss sighed. "Probably a prank from Nora." she said as she turned to leave the room. "I'll go see if JNPR knows anything." She pulled the door open, and surprise surprise, standing in the doorway was Yang with a big old grin on her face. "And where have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Up and about. What's up? Something wrong?"

"You bet something's wrong!" Ruby exclaimed. "We've been robbed. Ransacked! Pillaged! All of our clothes are gone!"

"And my books too." Blake added.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Who would take clothes and books?"

"That's what I said." Blake responded.

"It's probably just a prank by Nora." Weiss added. "I was going to check with Team JNPR if that was the case."

Yang shook her head. "Don't bother. She got a case of food poisoning." Weiss blinked, surprised to hear that before she looked back at her teammates. Ruby stared at her sister, wondering how exactly she knew that before she clarified. "I was hanging with Pyrrha for a while, asking for help on Oobleck's essay. Turns out Nora had one too many pancakes."

"Somehow, that doesn't sound so surprising." Weiss shook her head.

Although it was slightly surprising given how many pancakes she could put away before. Just how much did she eat this time? If she were honest, she didn't really believe it. Nora's stomach was like a bottomless pit. There was also the fact that Blake mentioned. The doors were electronically locked and could only be unlocked through their Scrolls. Unless Nora was some kind of hacking genius, which she sincerely doubted, the only ones who could have stolen their clothes and Blake's book was...

"...Yang?"

The blonde grinned. "Yes, Weiss Cream?"

"Did you take our clothes?"

"Yes I did~" She answered with no shame, causing Ruby to face fault to the ground in dismay. She admitted it, just like that?! "They're with Pyrrha right now."

Weiss groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And Blake's books?"

"They're with Ren." Yang answered, not noticing her partner flinch and pale from the proclamation.

"And just why did you choose to plunder our belongings like this?"

"Why, what else? To go shopping~"

"We just went the other day though."

"Therapy Shopping, what else?"

"Therapy Shopping? What do you mean?"

"Look..." Yang's expression became serious for a change. "There is obviously still some tension going on between you two since last night."

Blake and Weiss flinched, more than aware of the lingering distance between the two of them. Even so, Weiss didn't want to acknowledge it as she shook her head. "There's no ten-"

"Bullcrap." Yang's quick interference caught her off guard, as was the annoyance that was a plain as day on her face. "You two avoid each other like the plague. We're supposed to be a team, not strangers. And that's why we're going on this shopping trip!"

"But-"

"No. Buts. We're going." Yang stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. "And that's final."

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed with a fist pump. "As team leader, I hereby declare us to go therapy shopping and you two make up!"

The heiress and Blake clearly looked as if they wanted to argue, but the faces on the two sisters clearly put down any and all arguments. They were aware that, after the other day, there was still a good deal of tension. They both knew that it wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Even so, they didn't like how the two were forcing them to go along. Sure, the tensions between them might affect how they fought, but even still...

Regardless, the only thing the two could do was sigh and lower their heads.

* * *

"...so." Jaune said slowly as he stared at the two piles that sat in the middle of their room with a confused expression. "Why are their clothes and books in the middle of our room?"

Pyrrha scratched her head sheepishly while Ren glanced at their team leader. "Well, Yang discussed her idea with us and, well..."

"She begged us to help out in her plan in exchange for a favor." Ren answered for the Spartan girl.

"So, she had you guys store our friends' clothes and books in our dorm?" Jaune had to ask.

Somehow, the idea seemed ludicrous. Not to mention stupid. She had to know that her friends would immediately realize that she was the only one that could steal because of the electronic lock, right? "I don't want to insult Yang or anything, but...this is just kind of..."

"Foolish, rash, and abrupt?" Ren offered. "Yes. Yes it is."

"Well, I was going to say it was kind of _stupid_ , but yeah, those too."

Really, what else could you say about all of this? Then again, maybe desperate situations called for desperate measures. He was a bit of an airhead, he would admit that, but even he noticed how Weiss barely even spoke to her team, especially Blake, and how the latter could never bring herself to stay around the heiress for long. And that wasn't even accounting the fact that she couldn't make eye contact with her. Ruby hadn't told her what happened, and neither did he want to. He knew better than to pry into personal matters.

Especially girl matters. Living with seven sisters told you many things. And speaking of many things...

"...Pyrrha?" he looked at his red-haired partner in curiosity, noticing the book in her hand. "What are you reading?"

Pyrrha let out an ' _eep_ ' noise that, quite honestly, sounded very cute as the book in her hands, titled "Ninjas of Love" on the cover, nearly fell out in a fumble before she caught it, and on the page she was on no less! "It-it's nothing!" she told him, her cheeks crimson red. "Just-just a book I asked Blake if I could borrow!"

Jaune quirked an eyebrow, but then shrugged before he went over to his desk. Since he had some spare time, he could study on the upcoming test Oobleck was no doubt going to subject them to in two weeks, as was the man's pattern. As he sat down and plugged in his headphones to his Scroll, he failed to notice Pyrrha staring at his back while looking at the pages in her book, the scenes described in them suddenly becoming much more vivid and thus causing her cheeks to burn even more. She felt a hot fire light up in her core, causing her legs to squirm slightly. She was tempted to try and soothe the ache, but then she remembered that there were three other people in the room.

One of which seemed to be vaguely aware of what she was doing. "You know, there is a lock on the bathroom." Ren told her with a straight face as he continued his meditation. Meanwhile, Nora continued to fiddle with her Scroll, bobbing her head while giggling and cackling like a madman. "And before you say anything, no. It isn't soundproof."

Pyrrha promptly gaped like a fish. "...how do you...?"

"Let's just say we all have guilty pleasures..." Ren admitted shamefully.

* * *

"...you do realize how terrible this idea is, right?!"

"What else were we gonna do, Rubes?! I can barely take the cold silence in the room whenever those two are together! I'm used to me rocking to music, Weiss telling me I've got crap tastes, Blake minding her own business reading her smut and you playing on your Scroll!"

Ruby bit her lip. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Yang was right. The silence had gotten too palpitating. They didn't have any other ideas on how to solve this.

Noticing her distraught, Yang's expression grew solemn. "Ruby. We seriously need to fix this, no matter what. I know what Weiss told us was heavy, and Blake feeling guilty, but things can't keep going the way they are. We're a team...and right now...we're slowly crumbling apart."

And they were crumbling fast. They needed to fix this somehow. Sure, a shopping trip just seemed like a horrible idea, but it was the best Yang could think of that would force the two girls to be together. Well, other than locking them together in a room, but that was pointless given how the heiress had her Semblance and Blake had magic. Even if she had to drag the two around all day, she was going to get these two to talk to each other dammit. Even if it killed her.

If only she realized how close to that statement thing would turn out...

* * *

Adam had rarely visited Sienna Khan since she succeeded Ghira Belladonna as High Leader of the White Fang. There had been numerous reasons, though contrary to what people thought, it wasn't because he disliked her methods. Yes, force was necessary. Simply trying to talk your way out of a fight would only end with you being beaten down like a dog.

He sorely understood that strength was required for people to listen. What he didn't like was that Sienna was perhaps too allowing of others to become so violent. Some, more than others. There had been a few members who acted out of spite and rage, but they were quickly suppressed and forced to bend the knee and listen, lest they be punished.

And then there was allowing someone like Devil to become her trusted Lieutenant and run freely, causing death and mayhem wherever he went. Adam has never met this individual, yet a large part of him wanted to track him down and cut him where he stood. In a way, Devil was a sick and twisted mirror. A reflection of the man he could have become had Adam never met Cor all those years ago back at Menagerie.

Overwhelmed by hate, missing the bigger picture and seeing things from the other perspective. Because of that man, the one person he's ever come to hold so highly and revere, his fate had changed. In another time, he would have become a monster. Devil had taken that place and filled it accordingly with zeal.

Adam never understood why Sienna continued to let the bastard roam freely, nor why she had not chosen to take action. She was very careful in her plans and never let anyone in any of the branches act too rashly, lest the consequences make it harder for their brothers and sisters eek out honest lives in the neighboring kingdoms. Yet Devil was making things so much more dangerous for everyone, not just humans. Her refusal to look at the situation was yet another reason why he never bothered to visit the woman in person.

Today, however, was an exception.

The halls of the Old Palace were as regal yet nostalgic as ever. It had once been a great home to the nobility in Mistral, but after the Great War had come and gone and the monarchy overthrown in place of government, it was now used as a gathering place of meetings for Faunus, regardless if they were White Fang, official leaders or members of the Glaive.

The banners of the new Fang's insignia adorned the walls, bearing the snarling wolves with their claw marks behind their heads, draped in red. The sight made Adam's face crunch in distaste, unable to even so much as look at it without feeling his hand reaching to his sword to cut them down. It was a mockery of the Fang Ghira and his father created. Not to mention in _poor_ taste.

Eventually, the hall lead into a large grandiose room, reminiscent to a king's audience chamber with large pillars supporting the roof and banners falling from the archways, each of different color and design to invoke some presence. A few guards had been stationed, all wearing black, gold and white with silver masks on the upper half of their faces. Each armed with a spear.

And there, sitting atop her throne, was Sienna Khan.

"This is a surprise." the woman said as she shifted, crossing one leg over the other with a look of interest on her face. "You were the last person I expected to see today."

Adam snorted as he folded his arms over his chest, stopping at the foot of the staircase leading up to the throne. "If I'm being honest, Khan, I didn't even want to come here." he said, not bothering to hide his _slight_ displeasure with the Tiger Faunus. "The only reason I came is because both King Regis and my father needed an envoy. I was the only one they could send at the moment."

Sienna sighed softly, shoulders lowering while her face showed how much she was truly tired, or at the very least disheartened by his attitude. "I'm fully aware you don't agree with how I run the White Fang, Adam, especially since it was the organization that Ghira and your father founded, but-"

"It isn't how you're running it that is the problem." he cut her off sharply, bearing his fangs. "My problem is how you're letting one person undoing all of our hard work!"

"You're referring to Flaemis, I take it." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Of course I am. Khan, just how could you let that monster run loose? He's painting a target on the backs of all Faunus for his actions. Don't even get me started on how many massacres he's caused for the 'sake' of the White Fang and Faunus!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Sienna snapped in frustration. "Of course I am aware how out of control Flaemis has been!"

"Then why haven't you stopped him?! He's your lieutenant for Dust's sake!" he snarled back in equal force, yet not raising his voice. "What in the Astrals' name even made you decide to make that lunatic into your right-hand man in the first place?!"

Fierce eyes were locked onto unrelenting ones. Neither said another word for several moments. The guards could feel the tension in the room.

"...It was his resolve." She finally answered with a regretful scowl.

"His resolve? You mean his resolve in his quest for human genocide?!"

"His resolve to see to it that this useless discrimination between humans and Faunus was brought to an end. Even if it meant being seen as a monster."

"But he's going too far! You must realize this, Khan!" Adam argued. "Even though he may be seen as a monster, his actions are painting the White Fang as a whole in a negative light! People are viewing the Fang as terrorists, not revolutionaries!"

"Then what do you propose I do?!" the woman snarled back with equal hostility. "He's garnered support from others in the Fang! Those who push the limits of what we can do! And in case you have forgotten, there are many who are willing to resort to murder and violence, more than what I allow them!"

"You mean to tell me that the High Leader can't even control her own subordinates?" The bull Faunus questioned in disbelief.

"You know as well as I do what hatred, spite, anger, and bitterness can do to a person. And Flaemis is the personification of all of them. It is through these qualities that those radicals follow him. To them, he is a kindred spirit, as much as I loathe to admit."

Adam's hands balled into fists. The words that fell from Sienna's mouth were the least he wanted to hear. He was aware that there were several in the Fang that wanted to lash out violently, but for there to be that many? Was that even remotely possible?! For a moment, he pictured what it would be like to be in her shoes right now.

Running an organization as large as the White Fang, with so many soldiers under their command, and a fair number eager to get back at the people who've long abused them. The White Hoods were certainly not making things any easier. When Adam pictured that, he then understood why Sienna had little to no luck gaining control.

"...so what?" he growled in anger. "That bastard has all the cards?"

Sienna sunk into her throne, closing her eyes. "If I had it my way, Taurus..." she said, tired from dealing with this sort of situation and voicing her own distrust against the man. "I would have already wiped my hands of him."

* * *

"Thank you for indulging in my selfish request, Friend Gawain. I understand you've been particularly busy, tending to the guard detail." Penny said as she and Gawain strolled through the streets of Vale.

"It's no problem, Penny. Always happy to help a friend out." The maroon haired teen smiled. "Besides, I was pretty much done with my job anyway. I made sure that security was top notch. With all the recent robberies, I'm not leaving things to chance."

Though what he didn't tell her was how much of a hassle it was. Guarding a Dust shipment, in spite of how dangerous things had become lately in Vale, was never fun. The guards had made that perfectly clear as Gawain learned when he discovered them lounging about, completely and utterly bored out of their minds while a good handful stood at attention, guarding the container as per their duty. Of course, he knew that they were just as weary. Who knew what could happen?

Still, one could never be too careful. He made sure to straighten out the lazy soldiers and put them to work. They only had tonight before the shipment was picked up and then distributed to the businesses. If it was stolen before it was delivered...

 _'Yeah, I really don't want to think about that.'_ Gawain grimaced, a sheepish smile appearing as he pictured in his head the livid face of the General as he argued with his father about his blunder, since it was him who asked him to take on the job. _'I'm not sure who'll chew me out more. The General or Winter.'_

As they walked, the boy then noticed the bounce in Penny's steps. "What has you so excited?" Gawain asked before he remembered what happened a few days ago and smiled. "Ah. Thinking about that girl you became friends with?"

"Oh yes!" She answered exuberantly. "I hope I will be able to meet her again. I wish to learn more about her."

"I'm sure you'll get the chance Penny. Since we're here for the festival, I have no doubt you'll run into each other again. Who knows? Maybe Argent and the others can meet her as well."

Penny looked positively excited by that prospect, highlighted by the stars dancing around in her eyes. "Do you believe so? Oh, I hope we can all meet together! I have a hunch that Argent and Ruby will get alone very well!"

"You think so?" Gawain chuckled.

Thinking back on it, he was a bit curious about the silver-eyed girl from the other day. He's never seen anyone of that eye color before. He was also a bit worried for her, especially given how flustered she seemed. Then there was the Schnee heiress. He wouldn't say why, but being around her felt strange.

Very much so. It wasn't because of a feeling that they had met before. He was sure they've never met, since he was practically always with those three rowdy idiots back home. He couldn't quite describe the feeling in the back of his head, but he otherwise ignored it. He couldn't get distracted.

' _And then, of course, there was the Prince and his friends.'_ Gawain recalled. _'I wonder how the others will react when they hear I met Noctis Lucis Caelum?'_

Just as Gawain and Penny rounded the corner, he felt something slam into him. "Ow!" a voice whined as something hit the floor. Gawain and Penny blinked and looked down to find who else by the red-hooded girl that they had been discussing before, flat on her rear. "Yeowch... Who put a wall here?"

"I wouldn't consider myself a wall, but yeah, sorry about that." Gawain smiled sheepishly. Ruby blinked, recognizing his voice and then looked up. Then her cheeks lit up and, in a burst of speed and rose petals, dashed over to the yellow-haired girl that was standing behind her alongside the rest of Team RWBY. "Speak of the Devil. We were just talking about you girls."

Yang grinned, raising a hand. "Yo, Gawain! Fancy meeting you here!"

"You as well. So I take it that it's only you four wandering around town today?" Gawain questioned upon noting the number present. "The Prince and his guard decided not to come?"

"Nope, this is strictly a girls only, Team RWBY only, shopping trip." The brawler answered.

"That, and well..." She glanced over at Blake and Weiss, the latter of which seemed a bit anxious as she avoided looking at him for whatever reason. "We're trying to get these two to be happy. Hence, shopping therapy!"

Penny tilted her head. "Shopping...therapy?" she inquired. "I don't quite understand. How is shopping considered theraputic?"

"It isn't." Blake deadpanned. "We're just...having a difficult time is all, so Yang decided to try and bring us along for yet another shopping trip." A pause. "After she stole all our clothes and my books."

Gawain blinked. "...isn't that excessive?"

"It is." Blake answered with a narrowed glare trained on her partner.

"So...what are you two doing wandering around town? Out on a date?" Yang grinned jokingly.

The maroon-haired teen laughed. "Oh no. If it were, General Ironwood and Penny's father would kill me!" he said. He wasn't sure they would, though, given Penny's unique nature. "We just got back from the docks, handling some stuff. Penny wanted to explore Vale some more, so I thought we could check out a cafe my father recommended the last time he was here. I believe it was called Simone's Jetblack?"

Blake's ears immediately perked up. "I know that place. Their coffee is one of the best in the Kingdom." she said with high praise. "I recommend trying their latte's with a coffee cake on the side."

"Wow, Blake." Yang giggled. "Didn't know you were big on coffee!" Blake shot her a small glare, but then gave a shrug. In truth, she wasn't the biggest fan of coffee, but she did approve of the latte. There was a certain taste to it that made it stand out, compelling her to try it.

"I'll take that into consideration." Gawain said before an idea came to mind, bringing a smile to his face. "Why don't the four of you join us? I'm sure Penny would appreciate the company."

"Well, some food does sound good right about now. So count us in!"

"...do they have cookies?" Ruby asked Blake as Gawainled them to the restaurant.

"I think they do. They had some large ones on display."

"Friend Ruby!" Penny interjected the conversation, popping up between them. "It is good to see you again."

"Oh, hey Penny!" Ruby greeted with a grin. "How've you been?"

"Spectacular! Thank you for asking!"

 _(Time Skip, Few Minutes Later)_

The group of six had arrived at the cafe Gawain had mentioned, and true to Blake's suggestion, Gawain had given the coffee cake and latte a shot.

He was not disappointed.

"This has got to be the best coffee and cake I've ever had. And I've visited every restaurant in Atlas, so that's saying something." Gawain hummed pleasantly as he savored the taste of his food. "The sweetness of the cake is subtle, yet pleasant. And the coffee is just brewed to perfection. They truly use quality beans for this."

Weiss gave a small muffled sound of agreement. She only ever really had the coffee Klein brewed, but she had to admit, this was quite good. She glanced over at Ruby, who had simply ordered a juice. Understandable, as she admitted she wasn't much of a coffee person outside of a bland flavor mixed with three sugars. Blake had ordered an oolong tea with a simple pastry, though most of her attention seemed focus on Penny and Yang, who bizarrely had ordered the "mystery coffee blend" the shop was famous for.

As for what the blend was, she had absolutely no idea. Though given the wide variety of emotions on Yang's face as she drank from it, she was sure it was very complexing. Penny on the other hand happily consumed her own drink with a chipper smile on her face. She did not make any reaction resembling Yang's.

The concoction was a mystery indeed.

"So Gawain..." Blake decided to make small talk with the Atlas student. "What brings you and Penny into town again?"

"Well, as I've told you, Team GLAE is more or less bodyguard detail. Of course, we still function as a normal team and take on various other missions. On occasion, though, the High Councilman or the General has us take on other kinds of tasks. In this case, I got the short end of the stick and was asked to guard a shipment from Atlas. Nothing special, really."

"Huh. You don't say?" Ruby said as she took a drink from her juice. "What're your teammates like?"

Gawain sighed, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. "Whoo boy... Where do I start?"

He crossed his arms as he fuddled his brow in thought. "Well, first off, there's Leonidas. He's more or less the mid-ranged fighter of our team and our scout. He's also rather showy in his combat form, treating every battle like a performance. That doesn't mean he just fools around, mind you. He's actually very competent in fighting, and can spot out an opponent's weaknesses before striking them, all while making it a flashy performance. Other than that, his showiness translates to real life as he's more or less a magician. Oh, he also has a pen pal here in Vale, someone he's quite enamored with...just don't tell him and I said that.

"Then there's Argent. He's our weapons and technological specialist. Penny thinks he and you would get along swimmingly, Ruby." He smiled at the silver-eyed leader, who fidgeted under his gaze. "That being said, we tend to think of him as a weapons' freak who likes to tinker...a lot. Give him a project, and he will spend hours or even days cooped up in his little workshop. We're the ones who drag him out to so he doesn't starve to death. He and Penny are good friends, so I'm sure you'll meet him when he gets here.

"Then finally, there is our hot headed melee combatant, Edan. He's quite adept in spearmanship, having trained by Atlas Specialist, and Dragoon, Aranea Highwind. He's one of the best fighters in our year. But like I said, he's a bit temperamental and get pretty brutal in a fight if you piss him off. However, he's also gotten a lot of flak from most people in Atlas, due to him being a Faunus and all. But we still treat him as one of us. To us, he is an irreplaceable brother. All of them are."

The four girls stared at Gawain, marveling and pondering on what he said. Thought bubbles danced over their heads, already picturing the people in question. At the description of Argent, the three girls looked at Ruby, who promptly stared back at them quizzically.

"...what?"

"...Well, looks like they'll be a fellow weapons freak you'll get along with." Yang grinned. "Yay! Another friend for you!"

"Oh, you are going to love Argent, Ruby." Penny added, excited at the prospect of her two friends meeting. "He is super sweet and well informed in technology and weaponry. He's even designing a new prototype for Atlas to use!"

"Ah-ah! Penny! We aren't supposed to talk about that!" Gawain lightly admonished with a frown on his face. It wouldn't do if it became public knowledge that his team mate was working for Atlas Military Research and Development.

"Oh, whoops!" The ginger girl covered her mouth with her hands to prevent spilling any more secrets.

But it was too late. First shot has been fired.

"A new prototype?" Ruby asked curiously. "What is it? Oh, wait! Is it that new Paladin Project I've been hearing about?!"

Weiss sighed, palming her forehead. "And of course, that get's leaked to the public before the General can reveal it." she muttered in distaste. "I bet it's something else. Perhaps more along the lines of a more competent AI program for the Atlesian Knights."

"Nah. Ten bucks says it's some new weapon." Yang threw in her own two cents.

Before long, the four girls threw in ideas of what Argent could be developing. Gawain groaned, shaking his head while Penny at least had the decency to look sheepish, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Friend Gawain..."

"I know you didn't mean to... Just try and keep a lid on Argent's projects. The less people who know about Freckles, the better."

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed. I wouldn't want people to know about Mr. Freckles too soon." Penny said in determination.

Argent had been quite explicit in keeping the thing a secret. Thus far, the only ones who knew about it were Penny, Team GLAE and, of course, Gawain's father. The maroon-haired boy could only smile wryly as he remembered the fiasco that happened just before he left for Vale. Obviously, there were quite a few bugs to fix.

And the fact that Argent should be kept away from any and all ballistics until then. The last thing he needed was to learn that their place of residence burned to the ground because of Argent's project malfunctioning.

"Anyway..." Gawain brought the girls out of their own little conversation, smiling as he took another drink from his latte. "Other than shopping to help ease tensions, what else did you girls have planned? I assume training, since the Vytal Festival is only a few months away?"

"Well, we only planned shopping for today...training never really crossed our minds." Yang shrugged sheepishly.

"Really? I assumed you would want to be prepared for the tournament. All sorts of fighters will be participating from all five kingdoms, so it would beneficial to make sure your combat form is at its peak. That's what my team does often." He took another sip from his coffee. "We have to be at our best...since we're the best team Atlas has to offer."

"Oh? It sounds like you're pretty confident, or just bragging."

"It's merely a fact. I take pride in how far our team has come. And we've more than earned the title." He allowed himself to smirk, showing just how much pride he had in his skills and abilities. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be guarding the High Councilman."

"Actually, about that..." Weiss leaned forward, curious about something. "If you're really Councilman Izunia's bodyguard, why are you being asked to guard a shipment? I doubt it's something mundane like supplies."

"Well, you're right about that. It's Dust, actually." he answered, causing her eyes to widen. "I can't actually say what kind of Dust we're transporting, but given how dangerous Vale has become, General Ironwood thought the guys back home would be able to guard the Councilman. Plus, with how dangerous Vale has become, anything's possible.

"The White Fang in Vale have been pretty violent lately. I've even heard that the High Leader of the Fang is getting fed up with them." Blake grew forlorn while Weiss openly scowled in disgust, something that Gawain took notice of. "I take it you had some sort of issue with them as well?"

"You could say that..." Yang replied, not wanting to give anything away. "We just got some team issues to work out. Nothing to concern yourself with."

"If you say so..." The Atlas student shrugged.

"...So you're predicting that the White Fang in Vale will raid the shipment?" Blake finally asked, causing her team to glance at her.

"I'm more than predicting it. I'm expecting it. I doubt that they would be able to pass up on this opportunity to hit the Schnee Dust Company where it hurts, as it is the company that's supplying." Gawain stated his reasons, leaning in his chair. "Three reasons why they wouldn't be able to pass it up. First is the most obvious: it's Dust from the Schnee Company. The same company that had been employing questionable Faunus working conditions.

"The White Fang has always considered them a target, and the commander of the Vale Branch has always made his hate for them known. Secondly is one of the more obscure reasons: supplies. You can't wage a war without the right tools. They don't just attack Schnee cargo, they steal it. They take whatever they can get.

"And lastly, and keep in mind that this third reason is hypothetical..." Gawain shifted in his seat, propping his elbow on the table and narrowing his eyes. "...but I believe the guy in charge of the Fang here in Vale is taking orders from someone OUTSIDE the White Fang."

That grabbed the attention of all four girls. "...And what makes you say that?" Blake asked inquisitively.

"Call it hunch, as I don't have much concrete evidence to support my claim. But from what I gathered so far, the recent line of Dust Robberies are quite a contrast from previous actions made by the Vale Branch. They need supplies, yes, but they usually steal them while they're en-route to their destination. They didn't rob stores before to steal their supplies. And if they needed more resources, they could've also stolen the lien stashed away, but they didn't. They left it alone."

He took another sip. "These actions are inconsistent with how the Vale branch behaved before. But like I said, I don't have any proof to support my claim. But it is something to look into."

"But..." Ruby tilted her head. "I thought all of those were done by Torchwick. I even caught him in the middle of one!"

"Hence my theory. Why exactly would Roman Torchwick, the kingpin of crime in Vale, rob stores solely of Dust and not Lien? While some would speculate that it is to make big buck on the black market and disrupt the Dust economy, the consequences are a bit more severe.

"By stealing so much Dust in a short frame of time, resources for Huntsmen and kingdom militias are dwindling and become scare. They are weakening their enemies by cutting off their supplies. As I said previously, you can't wage war without the right tools. And the Kingdom's defenders are losing their ammunition."

Gawain's words were troubling to hear. The girls looked at each other, clearly shaken and unsure what to think from all this. Weiss frowned heavily, dueling with unpleasant thoughts of her own while sipping her coffee, though unlike the sisters, she had noticed just how deeply Blake had been in thought.

Penny looked over at Gawain, face crunched in concern. "Friend Gawain..."

"Oh, right." the maroon-haired teen smacked himself in the head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put a damper on the mood. I should have just kept to myself on these theories."

"Well...we did kind of ask..." Yang shrugged.

"I realize that...but I tend to ramble a bit. Again, apologies."

* * *

Ozpin was old. Very, _very_ old. How old, no one knew exactly for sure. In his old age, he has made many enemies. From the most lowly of bandits to even the most ferocious of crime lords. He's dealt with all manner of vermin. However, in his long life, only two has he ever come to consider the greatest threats. One was the Witch and Queen of Grimm. Bringer of darkness and discord. Salem. And the other was an enemy he has been battling since the day he brought it upon himself to becoming the founding father of all Huntsmen Academies. An enemy he now faced once again, with the Vytal Festival now looming so closely.

Paperwork.

"I swear, the stacks get bigger with every year..." the man groaned as he stamped another paper and throwing it to the pile before taking another and looking it over. "I don't remember having to approve of this much paperwork before."

Then again, there hasn't been quite an event like this before. After all, this year is the first for Lucis to participate in the Vytal Festival. Quite a momentous occasion.

...if only he realized just how momentous the paperwork linked to it was.

After all, how many people could say that a foreign Kingdom would be participating in the Vytal Festival? A Kingdom from another world, at that. Ozpin had neglected that fact, considering his age, but one may think he could be forgiven. After all, he's been doing this bane of existence for so long it has become second-hand nature to him. Of course, unlike previous times, he had to carefully look over the documents.

Since these were sensitive in nature, pertaining to the clauses and circumstances around Lucis, there would always be a few loophole abuses for another Kingdom or individual, such as a financial backer, to have some control over their presence.

Ozpin, a believer in fairness, wanted to give Lucis a fair, fighting chance and overall presence. It was the first time they would be participating since becoming a part of the Vytal Treaty.

As he continued to stamp and sign documents while throwing away ones that would otherwise hurt Lucis in some way, a knock came to his door. "Enter." he called. The door opened, revealing Glynda. "Sorry, Glynda. But if you're here about the changes in schedule for the upcoming break, it will have to wait. The council has truly brought down the hammer on me with all this blasted paperwork."

The Deputy Headmistress smirked slightly, taking some pleasure in the man's suffering before that faded away into her usual, stern look. "Actually, it is in regards to Team RWBY, sir." Ozpin paused, stopping to look up from his work and set the paperwork aside for the moment. "I'm sure you've noticed how...distance, the team seems to have grown for these last few days. The report I sent you on their performance in my class has told you as much."

"Indeed it has." the man admitted. "Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna seem to be the main cause, though thankfully, Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long seem to be trying to get the two to come to terms, as it were. Regardless, why not leave them be for now?" Glynda frowned heavily, opening her mouth to protest before he answered her inquiry.

"They are children, Glynda. Children who are fighting to become the guardians of this generation. And as children, they will stumble and trip. This is but the first of the many, many bumps in the road. Besides, have a little faith in those girls." He grabbed his mug, which had gone untouched, and took a sip from it before smiling softly. "They're very much like how STRQ used to be back in the day."

Glynda gave him a flat stare. "...it's precisely because they remind me of those four that has me worried."

Ozpin's smile faded. He knew just what she was getting at. Despite how STRQ was the best team Beacon had seen for a long time...it was not without its own internal issues. Those problems didn't stem from when they were active during their time at Beacon. Rather, somehow it had started when they had begun to part away from each other. Particularly, when Raven had fallen in love with Taiyang. What came after that was something Ozpin was not privy to, though he was sure from Qrow's few slips of the tongue and overall somber tone that whatever happened had changed the woman.

He was very much aware that the two had come to Beacon to learn how to kill their fellow Huntsman, though he had never revealed this until he offered to grant them the power of their own brand of "magic." They were cold and withdrawn...until they met the lively pair of Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. After that, there was no way for them to remain so distant. In fact, the man was sure that, somehow, there had been love blossoming across them as early on as their first year here.

And yes, he was very much aware of the...unusual relationship Raven had with Summer before they had come to be with Taiyang.

Long story short, while he didn't know precisely what drove Summer to go on that suicidal mission, it was enough to make Raven despise the man with every inch of her being. Ozpin had been surprised she hadn't appeared in his office, attempting to kill him. Then again, she knew it would have been meaningless, given his circumstances. He also didn't want her to forgive him. He wanted no one to forgive him for what he's done.

So many have died already, after all. The last thing he needed was to be forgiven for all the lives he's ruined and destroyed. Especially one that drove a wedge in the bond between him and...

 _ **'OZPIN! ! !'**_

He involuntarily flinched. Despite so much time had passed, the memories still cut deep and agonizing. As much as he wished to turn back the clock to change things, it would all be for naught.

The past is the past. It will never change, no matter how much one desires so. All they can do is live in the present and look ahead to the future.

* * *

"...I'm sorry." Weiss said after a moment of stunned silence. "But, did you just say we should head over to the docks? As in, you want us to see if the White Fang will attack the convoy?" Blake nodded, a resolute look in her eye. "...and just what brought this on?"

"You remember what Gawain said earlier today? About the White Fang's sudden change and the possibility that they could be working for someone?" she asked with a determined expression. "For a while now, Roman has been stealing Dust over lien. Everyone knows that, in the underworld, he's one of the most notorious criminals in Vale. He's practically built its entire underground empire through lying, stealing and cheating. Dust, Lien, weapons, the whole nine yards. And yet lately, he's been only taking Dust. The same with the White Fang. Don't you think that's not the least bit odd?"

"Well, yeah. Kind of." Yang admitted, though still confused. "But, why do you want us to spy on Gawain and the others, hoping the Fang shows up? You trying to prove that they aren't thieves and murderers or something."

Blake shook her head. "No. My main concern is what my friend Adam told me on the phone the other day. He talked about Flaemis, or Devil as everyone calls him. He's been pushing Sienna Khan's patience and ruthlessly attacking humans left and right. Both normal civilians AND Faunus that want nothing to do with the White Fang, as well as Lucians. Plus, don't you think it's odd that someone who hates humans with a passion is actually working for someone that's as low as Torchwick?"

"Um... Yeah?" Ruby shyly questioned/agreed. "But, Blake... We're talking about terrorists here. Guys who will kills us without a second thought. I...I don't think we're ready for that kind of thing yet."

"What Ruby said." Weiss said. "We aren't ready. Also, even if Devil does attack the docks, I doubt a ruffian like him will be able to overpower a convoy that was selected personally by the High Councilman? Even one of his personal bodyguards is there!"

"And what if it's not enough?!" Blake retorted just as intensely. "We don't fully know what Flaemis is capable of!"

"And you do?!" Weiss frowned. "We're just students! Do you really think we'd be able to fight and win against terrorists?!"

"Don't you want revenge for what they did to your brother?!"

The room suddenly turned quiet. The room's temperature sudden turned cold as Weiss' eyes became as cold as ice. "Don't you DARE bring my brother into this. You have NO RIGHT to use that against me, Belladonna."

Yang and Ruby began to sweat. This was turning bad. The way these two were glaring at each other, they knew that it was only a matter of time before they had a literal and proverbial cat fight on their hands!

"G-guys, wait a second here!"

"Yeah! Just take a breath and calm down!"

"I don't have a right?!" Blake argued, ignoring their pleas. "What about you! You're just going to let them go, after what they did to you?!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Weiss spat back as Ruby tried to hold her back. "I want nothing more than to make the White Fang pay! But I don't have a death wish, compared to you!"

As Ruby got between the two of them, trying to calm the other down and prevent them from killing each other and prepared to bust out Crescent Rose if need be, Yang looked back and forth between the two. At this rate, they really were going to kill each other. However, she soon noticed something out in the distance outside their window. At first, she thought to ignore it given the situation, but given where it was happening, she felt curious and moved over to the window.

"Um... Guys?"

"WHAT?!" the two monochrome-themed girls snared, glaring at the blonde brawler only to pause when they saw her standing by the window with a terrified expression, pointing outside the window.

* * *

"Team RWBY's having a fight?" Prompto asked, looking up from his magazine and at Ignis, who handed him a plate of dinner. Tonight had been pasta with a side of beef stroganoff, complete with garlic and condiments. Honestly speaking, he wasn't that much of a fan of beef, though he would be a fool to deny Ignis' cooking. It would be a cold day in hell before he passed up on that. "For real? They looked pretty close."

"You gotta remember, Prompto." Gladio grunted in between huffs, pushing up his body from the floor and then pulling himself back down, a thin sheet of sweat covering his skin and dripping from his forehead. "They ain't like us. They're just strangers towards each other. At best, they've only known each other for a few months. We've known each other since you and the Prince were kids, now that I think about it."

"Yeah, I remember." Noctis chuckled, tossing a small elemental ball in his hand up and down. "But I'm sure things will work out."

"One can only hope." Ignis said before handing Noctis his portion of dinner. "By the way, has there been any word from his majesty in regards to the conference that was held about the new Grimm?"

"Nah. Not a word. My guess is, dad is probably staying quiet until they can figure out where exactly these guys came from or how they mutated, and if it was caused by Lucis showing up twenty years ago from the World Crossing."

"I still think it's unfair for people to be blaming us for that." the gunslinger of the group said, frowning in disapproval. "I mean, they can't blame us for everything, can they? We didn't know what would happen when we came here to Remnant, and its been twenty years! Twenty! Isn't about time to let go of the past?"

Finished with his push-ups, Gladio sighed as he pulled himself up to his feet, grabbing a towel from his bed and wiping the sweat off his face. "It ain't easy to forget losing loved ones, Prompto. Like it or not, we killed people when we came here. That ain't something people are ever gonna forget anytime soon. Doesn't help matters that we treat Faunus like they're actual human beings while a lot of people in Remnant just treated 'em like shit."

"Well, they're just being stupid. Faunus are people too. So what if they have extra animal parts? We're still the same!"

"If only that outlook was shared by the rest of Remnant's populace." Ignis shook his head in dismay. "Unfortunately, reality is not kind. A large number perceive Faunus to be sub-human or monsters. It's shameful, really."

"Tell me about it..." Noctis groaned as he bit into his stroganoff, letting the explosion of meat and flavor burst into his mouth like a dam. "Anyway, I've been to ask something. Once the exchange program's over, what do you think we should do?"

Prompto looked over at Noctis, tilting his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we're only here at Beacon for a year. After that, chances are, Dad will probably just plop the both of us at Glaive Academy once construction is finished. And, of course, I can imagine Gladio and Ignis coming along for the ride. Glaive won't be finished for a long while, so I figured, why not go on a road trip around Lucis?"

Ignis hummed, rubbing his chin. "That does sound like a rather excellent idea." he said, smiling widely. "Truth be told, I've been curious to see what sort of delicacies are around Duscae."

"Wait! Doesn't Duscae have a Chocobo farm?!" the sharpshooter exclaimed excitedly. "We can check it out, right?!"

Gladio laughed. "Welp. Looks like Prompto's sold. Though, quick question, who's gonna be driving? Iggy, or Noct?"

"Okay, seriously! What is wrong with my driving?" Noctis questioned childishly, honestly not seeing what the problem was with his car skills. "I ain't that bad!"

"That remains to be seen." Ignis quipped good-heartedly. "I worry about the possibility of crashing when you are behind the wheel." The prince leveled a glare at Ignis, though soon after, the black-haired teen could only chuckle before falling into laughter. The rest of Team LAPI shortly followed, realizing just how idiotic the conversation was. However, that was just one of the many, many things that made coming to Beacon so enjoyable. "At any rate, I approve of a little country roadtrip."

"It ought to be fun." Gladio chimed. "Hell, who knows? Maybe we can go hunting for those Royal Arms you keep mentioning so much."

"Ooh! Ooh! And don't forget about sightseeing!" Prompto shouted excitedly. "I really want to get a shot at the Disk! And the food! Don't forget about awesome local delicacy."

"Don't worry. We'll be sure to visit. If memory serves, the Disk of Colchis has been held up by the Archaen, Titan, correct?"

"I think so. I dunno much about mythology or anything." Prompto shook his head. He then finished up his plate and let out a satisfied sigh. "Man, I think I'm gonna go fat again from Ignis' cooking. It's too good. You sure you aren't the Astral of cooking, Iggy?"

"Last I checked, I don't believe so. I am human like the rest of us. Although, I thank you for the compliment, Prompto." He chef of the group smiled.

"Well, he's not wrong. Your cooking is as good is always." Gladio added.

"Man...wish we invited Ruby and the others. I don't think they tried your cooking yet."

"Yeah, well, maybe for the break." Noctis suggested. However, he soon paused and frowned. "Although, I don't think the Regalia is big enough. Also, last I checked, Yang's only got a license for a motorcycle. None of them can drive."

"We could always order a van." Prompto suggested with a chuckle as he stood up, heading for the bathroom. He figured he might as well take the first shower before heading off to bed. There was yet another tiresome day waiting for them, after all. However, he soon stopped when he noticed something unusual happening outside the window. "Huh... Weird."

"What's up?" Noctis asked. "Something wrong?"

"I think Vale's throwing a party." the blonde headed over back to his bed, pulling out his camera and changing out the scope. He then propped open the window and leaned out, holding his camera in front of him. "Still, this makes a good shot. Man, I am so glad we could this room! The view here is...is..."

"Prompto?" Gladio frowned heavily when he noticed him trailing off, voice turning from excitement to disturb. "What's going on?"

"...Vale's...on fire."

Noctis shrugged. "Must be a hell of a party."

Prompto pulled away from the window, eyes frantic. "No, I mean, Vale's LITERALLY on fire right now!"

"Wait _what_?!" The three set their plates down and rushed over to the window. True to the blonde sharpshooter's word, there's a large, flickering red and orange light in the distance. Light produced by flames.

There truly was a fire in the city!

Without another word, the four men rushed out of their dorm room, speeding straight down the hallway. As they ran through the many corners and halls, they eventually reached the courtyard to see Team RWBY up ahead. "Noct!" Ruby called. "Did you guys see it too?!"

"Yeah!" Noctis shouted. "What the hell's going on?!"

"No clue!" She shook her head. "But it looked like it came from the docks!"

"The docks? Why there?!"

"The Dust shipment!" Weiss and Blake exclaimed in realization. It appears their fears came true.

"Wait, what? What shipment?!" Prompto questioned.

"No time!" Yang shook her head. "The White Fang are attacking!"

"WHAT?!"

* * *

Gawain grunted as he found himself being pushed back, skidding across the concrete ground he stood on. The White Fang soldier brandished his rifle, ready to gun him down. Penny, however, wouldn't allow him the chance as her swords came crashing down on him and knocking him to the floor and being unceremoniously knocked out with a well-placed kick to the head. Without even turning, her dancing swords blocked several gunshots. Regaining his bearings, Gawain charged in, silver rapier in hand as he leaped high into the air, spinning his body at an angle and coming down for a spiral slash.

He landed behind them. Three seconds later, they fell to the ground, blood soon staining the pavement. As he stood up, he looked at the battlefield and winced. It was a madhouse now. The fire was spreading and the Knights were being destroyed faster than they could fight back. What few actual soldiers he had were also being cut down by the second.

"This is bad." he said tensely as he switched his rapier to his other hand while Penny kept her swords at her side as more White Fang soldiers began to surround them. "I anticipated them coming here...but why are there so many?!"

"Because, unlike our previous gigs, this one's got a special bonus!" a cheery voice answered him. Looking ahead, a man wearing a bowler hat with a cigar in his mouth approached alongside a woman with mismatched eyes and carrying a parasol, along with a grin on her face. "See, we get Dust...and you."

Penny's eyes narrowed. "Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan. The two most wanted criminals in Vale, as well as one of the most wanted criminals in Remnant."

"At your service." Roman grinned cheekily, performing a mock bow. "Now, do be a dear and come quietly. I mean, sure, our orders are to kill ya, but I'd like to think myself a fair guy. Better to let a guy have a painless death instead of dying horribly."

"Sorry." Gawain rebuked him. "I think I'll take my chances."

The mobster shrugged. "Your loss." he said before tipping his hat. "Boys, if you would!"

On cue, the White Fang soldiers around them fired. With surprising dexterity and coordination, however, Penny and Gawain acted together. A dance of blades, cutting down and reflecting bullets. It was beautiful, almost. When the soldiers ran out of bullets and had to stop to reload, Penny took the moment to spread her swords out in an arc, knocking them off balance and allowing for Gawain to perform his own coordinated attack. A

s she regrouped her swords, he jumped up and swung at them, sending them flying at the White Fang grunts and striking them down. One strike, two, then three. Then a fourth strike. With each swing, another blade was sent flying and another grunt fell dead. It also helped when Penny used her wires to pull any knocked away swords back over to her, bringing them back to Gawain to hit.

With the grunts all gone, Neo thought it was time for her to act and dashed in, throwing her parasol away though not before drawing a naked sword from it and rushing at Penny, her smile turning wicked and her eyes shifting colors. The ginger haired girl turned to see the diminutive female charging in quickly. She pulled her swords in front of her to intercept, but she was just too fast. Just as the tip of the sword was about to pierce her neck, a silver blade knocked it off course. The females turned in surprise to find Gawain.

"Get away from her!" He then tackled the woman away. As they rolled, Neo kicked him off of her. Gawain tumbled before springing back on his feet, rapier at ready. The Tri-colored girl patted off dirt from her body before sauntering over to him, eyes gleaming in sadistic glee.

Gawain bared his teeth and fell into a combat stance, gauging the distance between him and her. Then, after a moment, he came at her again with a thrust that Neo dodged easily, spinning to the side and bringing her sword to come at his rib. Then a loud *BANG!* cracked the air and she found herself coughing in pain, clutching her stomach and backpedaling away.

Stunned, Gawain delivered a series of strikes, each hitting her arms and legs before being struck across the face with his heel and being knocked back. Recovering and flipping back up to her feet, she saw him holding what looked to be a modernized blunderbuss in hand, fully automatic with a wide barrel.

"You didn't think I'd rely on my sword, did you?" Gawain asked smartly with a frown.

Without missing a beat, he took aim and pulled the trigger again. Now aware of his firearm, Neo rolled to the side and backed away to gain some distance. She needed to restrategize, as he could attack from a distance now.

Unfortunately, the guardsman refused to let her have any reprieve.

With surprising dexterity, he closed the distance with a quick thrust and aimed his firearm at her again, firing another powerful round. Neo evaded and backflipped away, bouncing atop a crate. just in time to see the rapier and the modified blunderbuss click and mix together, creating what looked like a long rifle with a sharpened blade at the other end. Taking aim, he fired off a round that Neo effortlessly knocked it away, but she didn't expect a second round to come so quickly as it knocked her off balance.

"Penny, now!"

Before she had a chance to react, Penny strike her with full force with her dancing swords, each striking her at different points before the girl herself came barreling forward, jumping up to deliver a heavy dropkick straight unto Neo's chest that sent her flying, hitting the ground harshly on her back. As she got up, Gawain took aim again, though was forced to leap away when a powerful blast struck where he stood, blowing the ground apart. Looking over, he found Roman aiming his cane at him.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill her." he said with an annoyed look on his face. "It really is hard to find talented help like Neo around here."

"If neither of you have a death wish, then I advise you both stand down now!" Gawain declared, his blade raised. "I have been authorized to guard the shipment and stop raiding parties by any means necessary. That includes lethal force."

"So you're willing to kill us instead of taking us prisoner? Is that really how a guardsman should act? What about due process of the law and all that crap?" Roman stated sarcastically.

"Like I said, I have been ordered to complete this mission by any means necessary." His eyes narrowed into a lethal glare. "Besides...I doubt Remnant would miss the likes of either of you."

The mobster was silent for a moment. Even Neo looked surprised by his declaration before she looked as if she had just found something very interesting, evident by the unpleasant gleam in her eyes. Roman then chuckled as he adjusted his bowler, looking at Gawain as if he were the most fascinating person on the planet. "You know, that's pretty interesting. That's the sort of thing _he_ would say."

"He?"

"AAAAAH!"

All eyes whipped over to there the scream originated from. They saw a single guard, badly burned and wounded, yet alive. An expression of utter terror was etched onto his face.

"Pl-please! Please...save me! H-he-help! Monster!" He scrambled away from the burning building behind him, having just escaped from it.

However, before Gawain or Penny could move in to help him, a large arm composed of flames shot out of the blazing structure and grabbed the fleeing man. He screeched in agony as the flames swallowed him before pulling him back into the burning wreckage of what was once the main guardhouse.

Roman stared at the sight, sucking in the toxic fumes of his cigar before blowing them out in a huff. "Wait for it..."

A second later, the very foundation exploded into a red and orange inferno. Gawain was forced to fold his arms over his face, trying to back away from the sudden explosion. Then he noticed something inside the flames. A black shape, slowly emerging out from the inferno. When it did, the flames followed the shape, only they became a darker color, going from orange-red to pitch black, stretching out and becoming akin to some sort of wing, resembling that of a bat.

The rest of the flames coiled around the form, like a protective snake. A pair of Crimson eyes smoldered from the dark silhouette. Flakes of burnt blood fell from the black blade in his hand. Under the twisted light, the shadow was revealed.

Gawain's eyes widened in recognition. "...Devil..."

The horns protruding from beneath the hood were a dead giveaway, but it was the cold menacing eyes that burned in the shadows that definitely made his presence known. The wing behind his back dispersed into mere sparks while he raised his sword, pointing it at the teen.

"The bodyguard of the High Councilman... A pleasure to meet you."

"Spare me the pleasantries." Gawain frowned as the grip on his weapons tightened. "Why are you here?!"

"Why else? To take the Schnee Dust cargo for our own needs. You can't fight a war against humanity without weapons you know. Plus, the absolute slaughter of every human here was just a bonus." Devil shrugged nonchalantly.

"You're a madman!"

"Mad?" Devil tilted his head. "Not quite. Being mad means you must be insane. I assure you, I'm quite sane." He flicked his blade, creating a small trail of flames as he did so before approaching. "After all, why else would we be here? Not only can we steal a shipment of Dust of the highest grade...but we also have the opportunity to kill a member of Team GLAE. One of Councilman Izunia's bodyguards and one of the most skilled Huntsmen in Atlas. I would be a fool to pass up such an opportunity."

"And you've just proven my point." Gawain readied his weapons, preparing for the worst. "You're just another bloodthirsty murderer."

"As if you damn humans are any better." Devil shot forward like a rocket, sword poised for an underhand strike. Gawain brought up his rapier to parry the attack. Once the blades clashed, a few embers broke off and singed his uniform.

Buckling beneath the weight, he found himself being pushed to his knees, much to Penny's fear. "Friend Gawain!" She rushed toward him in an attempt to help, only to find herself being kicked in the face by Neopolitan, who had recovered thanks to the man's fiery entrance. She rubbed her chin, as if making a remark as to how much that dropkick of hers hurt before paying her back with her own kick. Penny glared at the woman, but then found herself using her blades to deflect a shot from Roman's cane, who smirked. "Why you-! Out of my way!"

"No can do, sweetheart." Roman wagged his finger at her. "I'd much prefer living, thank you very much."

As Gawain was being pushed back, Devil's burning eyes stared at his. It was uncomfortable, much less intimidating and discomforting. Just being closed to the man was enough to make him sweat. "There are plenty of people who'd want you dead." he said, voice cold in stark contrast to the intense flames wreathed around his blade. "Don't take it personally, human."

"Sorry... But I'm afraid I'll have to decline!" With a struggled push, Gawain forced Devil back before jumping away to get some distance and taking aim, firing off a few shots. All of which were promptly deflected by the man easily with a few swings. "Tch!" Pressing a button on his weapon, the spear separated back into the blunderbuss and rapier. He charged forward, going in for a thrust. Devil dodged to the right before raising his katana to deflect a direct blast from the firearm before he found himself being kicked back with a well-placed roundhouse. Gawain then followed up with another shot from the blunderbuss, this one striking Devil and disorienting him long enough to get another hit in.

Only for Devil to grab the blade with his barehand, causing Gawain to falter. "W-what?"

"...my turn."

With a shove, a blast of intense heat exploded in Gawain's face, throwing him right off his feet and thrown unto his back and away from Devil. He cried in pain as the flames lapped away at his skin before he managed to tear off his coat, throwing it to the ground as it burned while dousing off the flames from his pants. As he recovered, Devil leaped high into the air with his sword drawn overhead, coming down upon him with the intent to cut him in half.

Gawain immediately sidestepped out of the attacks range. He felt a burst of hot air from the downdraft of the swing. It felt scorching, yet he endured it and poised his rapier for a quick stab.

Devil moved his head to avoid it before changing direction of his katana for an upward swing. Gawain stepped back, the tip of the burning blade barely missing him. However, Devil retaliated with a kick to his stomach, knocking him to the ground. As he tried to get up, the horned man pinned him to the ground. "Well, I suppose this is where we part ways." Devil remarked. He flipped his sword into a reverse grip, intending on killing Gawain quickly. "You can blame only your own weakness for this, Gawain."

"Screw...!" Gawain gritted his teeth. "You!"

Devil scoffed, but didn't reply. Instead, he raised his sword over his head...

 _*BANG! BANG!*_

...and was promptly knocked out of his hand. Gawian's eyes widened, hearing the loud cracking shots of a gun being let loose before Devil slowly craned his head to see a group of teenagers not too far away from him. One of them holding a red rifle while wearing a red cloak with a hood.

"Get away from him!" Ruby Rose demanded as she pulled back the chamber, ready to shoot another round. "Or this gets ugly!"

Devil tilted his head, eyes focused on them before he slowly turned his gaze to one member of the group. "...now, isn't this a stroke of luck?" he said, nearly laughing as he stood up straighter. "All hail his imperial majesty, Noctis Lucis Caelum. Crown Prince of Lucis." he spoke those words with no formality. Only mockery.

"And I take it that you're this Devil person that Blake's been telling us about?" He inquired with narrow eyes. He kept his grip tight on his engine blade.

"So you heard of me. I must be quite famous for the Crown Prince to recognize me as such." He continued to speak mockingly.

Weiss scowled as she readied Myrtenaster, stepping at the front of the group with hate burning in her eyes. "Hard not to, considering how many people you've killed!" Devil tilted his head, looking at Weiss as if confused for a moment before recognizing her. "And you have a lot to answer for!"

"...this really has to be my lucky day." Devil chucked. Gawain tried to get up again, but Devil asserted more pressure to his chest, causing him to groan in pain. "The bodyguard of Ardyn Izunia, the Crowned Prince AND the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Christmas came early."

"Shut up! I'll make you pay for what you've done to my family! And to Blanc!"

"Blanc? Who's that?" Devil asked, causing her to backpedal in shock.

It didn't last very long, as her face erupted into rage. "He was my brother, you monster! And you people...!"

"Hmph. That means nothing to me. Do you honestly expect me to remember the face of every person we've killed?" The White Fang commander shrugged, making the girl bristle. "Although...it is a pity. That I couldn't remember a Schnee dying by my hand."

That was the final straw.

With a furious scream, Weiss propelled herself forward, intent on skewering Devil for his crimes.

"Weiss, don't!" Blake's pleas fell on deaf ears. Weiss continued her advance, only for her strike to be blocked effortlessly and shrugged off as if it were nothing. Just before the horned Faunus could strike her down, Blake threw one of her black knives at the man.

He leaned his head to the side, evading it with ease before her body seemingly vanished in a blue flash of light, re-appearing next to him in the same light and kicking him in the head, knocking him off of Gawain and away from Weiss. "Get away from my friend!"

Gawain scrambled up to his feet, grabbing his blunderbuss and rapier before being joined by Noctis and his team, Team RWBY quickly joining. "What're you people doing here?" he asked.

"We saw the fire." Gladio told him. "Figured you could use the help."

Before Gawain could respond, Penny came flying in, skidding across the ground and knocking away a blast from Roman's cane. A blast that was nearly about to hit Devil until he cut it down with a swing of his sword. From the side, the mobster and Neo approached, the former swinging his cane around.

"Well, isn't this one fine little party we've having tonight?" he asked rhetorically. Ruby immediately switched Crescent Rose to scythe form, ready to come at him. When he saw her, Roman smirked. "Hey, Red. Fancy meeting you here! Shouldn't you be tucked away in bed?"

"We're here to stop you!"

"Yeah, good luck with that." Roman mocked before looking at his co-worker. "Yo, Flaemis my man. You mind if I take care of Red over here? I've got some...unfinished business with her."

"Just make sure you kill her." Devil replied coldly. "We can't have any survivors giving us a headache in the future."

"...very well." Roman relented. As much as he disliked killing, he would rather stain his hands than face retribution from the Devil.

He gave a small sigh as he tipped his hat in the manner of paying respects before he stepped forward. "C'mon, Neo. Time to get our hands dirty." His assistance smiled wickedly, obviously pleased by the idea as she spun her blade around. "Sorry, Red." he apologized in advance. "But as much as I hate killing people as much as the next guy... I'm not eager about being burned alive."

Ruby frowned. Yang stepped closer to her sister, slamming her fists together as Ember Celica wrapped around her wrists. Blake brandished Gambol Shroud while Penny readied her own swords. Weiss looked torn between going after Devil or helping her team. A hand touched her shoulder. Looking to whoever owned it, she found Gawain staring at her. "Go help your Team." he told her. "I've got payback with this guy."

Weiss wanted to argue with him, but Gawain's face overlapped with someone else. Someone she knew well. Biting her lip, she weighed her options again before joining the rest of her Team.

Team LAPI, meanwhile, brought out their weapons as light shimmered into their hands, forming into knives, swords and a gun respectively. Devil looked amused by the sight as he readied his sword-

 _[That's enough, Flaemis. Retreat.]_

-only to stop. "What?" he growled, addressing the voice echoing in the back of his head. "But he's right here. The prince! If I kill him now-!"

 _[His Majesty wants him alive for the time being.]_ The voice stated firmly. _[Let your Fledgling pet deal with them. Besides, the operation is a failure.]_

Devil was silent for a while. Eventually, he growled in anger and resignation as he slid his katana back into its sheathe. "As much as I'd like to deal with you all myself..." he said, causing them to look at one another in surprise. He was retreating?

"I'm afraid my time here is up. I'll let the pet deal with you instead." He snapped his fingers. Without warning, an ear-piercing shriek cried out into the night as something emerged out of the flaming warehouse, a purplish flare dancing around its body as it squirmed and writhed, practically twitching like a madman. "This is far from over, Your Highness..."

He swung out his arm, creating the flaming wing behind him before wrapping it around his body, vanishing in a twister of black fire. Before anyone could attempt to make sense of the whole thing, Prompto found himself being tackled to the ground. "OW!" he cried. Looking at whatever was pinning him, he stared at what could only be described as an absolute misshapen creature, putrid and disgusting. "AAAH! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!"

"Prompto!" Growling, Gladio spun in a circle, bringing his sword around and slamming it straight into the Fledgling's side, knocking it off of the sharpshooter. As it bounced off the ground and leaped atop a large freighter, Gladio pulled Prompto up to his feet. "You okay?!"

"I...I think so!" He gasped from the adrenaline rush. "Just, what the hell was that thing?!"

The creature glared down at them, a snarl curled at its lips. Now that it was still, the group got a better look at its form. Its shape was human, but its form wasn't. In fact, the presence it had seemed eerily familiar to the Lucians. "Good lord." Ignis said, disturbed. "Is-is that a Daemon?"

"What the hell's a Daemon doing here in Vale?!" Noctis growled. "They should be in Lucis!"

The Fledgling released another howl before it jumped into the air, coming down to the ground and then charging straight at the group.

"Get ready! Here it comes!" Gladio warned. The creature jumped and slammed its claws against the flat of the Crownsguard's blade. It hissed and growled, causing dark spittle to fly. But it was silenced when Gawain took aim and shot it in the head. Its body hit the ground, but then with a sickening series of cracks, it found its way up. The bullet holes created by Gawain's blunderbuss were slowly being patched up, mangled flesh filling up the gaps.

"Okay..." Prompto's face turned green. "That's just all sorts of wrong."

"Iggy!" Noctis shouted.

The Crownsguard nodded and took out his special knives, throwing them straight at the Fledgling. It revealed itself to be surprisingly agile, dodging quite a few and knocking the last two away with its tail before lunging at the man, only for Noctis to appear and slice its flesh with the knives in its body. It didn't seem to stop it, however, as it took each blow before it swung its claws at the prince, slamming it straight into his face and knocking him right into a freighter. It growled and lunged, opening its disgusting shark-like mouth and bite down on him, only to find itself being slammed into via Gladio's shield.

"Back off, asshole!" he snarled. "Nobody touches Noct! Prompto, flare!"

"Already on it!" the sharpshooter called as he twirled the cartridge of his gun open, slipping in a bullet before looking at Gawain. "Cover your eyes! Things are about to get bright in here!"

The males did as they were told as Prompto pulled the trigger. The special round fired from the muzzle. Once the casing split and its contents hit open air, a reaction occurred.

A very bright reaction.

What resembled a miniature sun immediately took form in the air, blinding all who were unfortunate to not shield their eyes in time. This included the fledgling Daemon, who shrieked when it experienced sensory overload. In that moment, Gladio and Ignis took the moment of opportunity and wailed on it. It couldn't anything besides helplessly defend against powerful swings and swift and precise strikes, each coming from both sides. The dizziness would only last for a good ten seconds, but each blow would surely cripple it.

They were about to be proven wrong the hardway.

With an angered growl. It brought up its arms to block the next series of blows, surprising the two Crownsguards. It then grabbed them by their weapons and hurled them away. Prompto took aim and fired off a few rounds from his revolver, but they did little to stop the Fledgling. It soon set its eyes on him and pounced, intending on biting into him again. Gawain, however, blocked it with his rapier and fired at its torso with the blunderbuss before combining the two weapons together, slamming the other end of the pole into it and knocking it back.

Just before it could strike at them again, Noctis had finally regained his bearings and struck with his Engine Blade, slashing at its exposed back, causing it to howl in pain before lashing out its tail in anger. The prince dodged it, rolling underneath it while slashing at its leg, though it didn't kneel. Instead, it tried to grab him.

A quick Warp-Strike removed him from its grasp as he threw his sword over to the other side of the yard, body dispersing into blue particles and then reforming with his sword in his hand. He looked to his side when he noticed Gladio getting up to his feet, groaning a bit. "The hell kind of Daemon is this?" he asked as he rubbed his shoulder, having landed on it harshly upon hitting the ground. "It fights like a Goblin, but it hits like a damned Iron Giant!"

"No kidding." Noctis agreed. "Whatever it is... We gotta finish this, and fast! I'm worried about the girls!"

* * *

"Will you-!" Yang threw a punch at Neo, who deftly dodged to the side and pushed the punch away from her with her sword, all the while smirking. "-just let me-!" Using momentum and firing a round from Ember Celica, Yang spun around, still swinging a fist and coming around for a roundhouse, only for Neo to duck under it, performing the splits before using her sword to bounce back up, headbutting Yang in the process. She nearly bit her tongue in the process. "-hit you?!"

Neo smirked as she wagged a finger, as if saying, "Nuh-uh-uh~"

The brawler's eyes turned red as her rage and semblance kicked in. She charged in furiously and threw punch after punch. However, to Neo, her opponent was so predictable it was almost sad. Due to her rage, she was able to anticipate each attack and evade them with ease.

But that ceased when two bullets nearly hit her. Glancing at the side, the cat Faunus was reloading her weapon. Scowling in annoyance, Neo evaded a sucker punch and cartwheeled away towards Blake's direction. The Faunus moved out of the way and raised Gambol Shroud, blocking a strike aimed for her neck before clenching her fist, gathering power into her hand. When Neo went it for a stab, a shadow took her fate instead and left Neo open for a blast of magic.

She focused power into her palms and the air around it compressed before shooting off like a bullet. At point blank, it was powerful enough to throw Neo right off her feet and smacking straight into a freighter. She gritted her teeth as she pushed herself off, then reacted quickly in time when she saw something red in her field of vision. Her blade countered Crescent Rose with ease, sparks flying between hers and Ruby's faces before she pushed her away, proceeding then dodge an icicle aimed for her head, courtesy of Weiss' glyphs. Penny then rushed in with Yang, going in for a pincer maneuver.

Frowning in irritation, Neo stood still. Once the two students struck her, her form shattered into glass. "What?" Penny stared, shocked by the event. "Where did-"

"Penny! Behind you!"

Ruby's warning came to late. A sharp pain erupted across her back as she found herself thrown to the ground. Yang snarled as she shot three rounds of Ember Celica at Neo, who slashed through each of them with ease before rushing at her, going in for a quick stab. The brawler dodged it and followed up with a left hook, though Neo deflected it with her boot before swinging the other one right at her jaw. Yang reeled back, clutching her mouth before she found herself being struck again. Just as Neo was about to run her through, Weiss intervened with a series of icicles.

Jumping back, she looked back and forth between the heiress and Ruby. The little girl switched her scythe back into rifle form while the Faunus Glaive readied her weapon, wind dancing around in her palm with eyes narrowed. Neo was confident in her abilities, of that there was no doubt. Countless foes she's faced, some stronger than the girls in front of her, and each was killed by her own two hands. Fighting someone with Aura and a Semblance was easy, even if the latter made it a pain.

A Kingsglaive, on the other hand, was a bitch. Something Roman also didn't quite appreciate. After all, when your fighting against someone who may as well be a damned Maiden from the storybooks and fairy tales parents tell their brats, the only thing you could do was hope for the best.

 _'Speaking of the Boss, where is he?'_

She received that answer when the mobster himself fired a round at the heiress, having hidden himself behind an overturned freighter. Weiss was unprepared for the sneak attack and was thrown to the ground, Myrtenaster sliding out of her hand. Ruby's eyes went wide with panic before she quickly turned her attention to Roman, opening fire. The man merely smiled as he twirled his cane, blocking each bullet sent his way before firing an explosive round her way as well, which she dodged with the recoil of her rifle, rose petals trailing behind her as she landed on the ground next to her friend.

"You okay, Weiss?"

The heiress groaned, rubbing her head. "I'll be fine..." she assured her friend. "Just...let me get my weapon."

"Better do it fast." Yang said angrily. "This bitch is pissing me off."

Penny, who had recovered from the slash Neo had delivered so crudely and harshly, could only look between the two criminals with a troubled frown. "We cannot fight them both at the same time." she reasoned. "We will be overwhelmed."

Ruby understood what Penny meant. She dealt with Roman's goons pretty easily, but Roman himself? This had been their second meeting, only this time he brought someone who was proving to be a pain. She was quick to rile up Yang, making her prone to messing up and take dangerous hits. Weiss could barely get any hits on her, providing long range support with her while Blake seemed to be the only one to actually have any edge over her alongside Penny, who Neo targeted mostly out of them.

Fighting the both of them would be unwise. They needed to find a more productive means to deal with the both of them.

And Ruby just had the right idea, mentally grinning. "Divide and conquer!" she shouted. "Blake, Penny! Take the ice cream girl! The rest of us have Torchwick!"

"Right!" Catching onto her plan, the girls broke off and changed their targets. The Glaive and Altesian student faced Neo while Yang, Weiss, and Ruby confronted Roman.

Neo clicked her tongue as if annoyed as she spun her sword around before taking on a fighting stance. Roman, meanwhile, took a whiff of his cigar before tossing it to the ground.

"Well, girls. Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

Gawain grunted as he blocked a strike from the Fledgling's tail, nearly thrown off balance before he fired a round from his blunderbuss. The shot had little effect as the creature snarled, going in for a bite as it made a jump for him. Noctis intervened with a Warp-Strike, blade slicing through its shoulder and down its torso while delivering a shoulder-ram that forced the monster back, knocking it away from the bodyguard.

"The prince of pain!" Gladio cheered as he switched back to his broadsword, going for a long-winded swing that hit the beast square across the chest, throwing it against a freighter. It recovered as its tail coiled up to the edge at the top, flipping itself up and dodging a thrust from Ignis before hopping on top of the man's shoulders, only to knock him away and unto the ground.

Prompto switched out his gun as well, going in for the large weapon he had used earlier back in Initiation. With a push of the button, he was spraying green mist all over the place, though mostly focused around the Fledgling. The daemon started to let out strangled grunts and hisses, scratching at its throat while the purple lights in its body started to dim. "Alright! I think it's on its last legs! URK!" Without warning, its tail lashed against him, throwing him right off his feet and near Gladio's as he slid on his back. "Or...maybe not."

"At least its slowly dying of poison." Noctis offered. "There's some relief in that."

"Maybe..." Ignis got back up to his feet, dismissing his spear in favor of his knives, which cackled with electricity. "But from what we've seen so far, dying of toxic gas won't slow it down!"

"He's right..." Gawain panted. He was starting to feel tired. His muscles hurt, and his legs were shaking. He must have been fighting for an hour now. "We've been wailing on it for so long, yet it hasn't even gotten weaker at all. If anything, it feels like it's getting stronger!"

As if to prove his statement, the Fledging let out a powerful, ear-shattering roar while purple flames seeped out from the cracks in its body, eyes glowing in demented fervor before it lurched forward. With a sickening squelch, a series of sharp quills began to sprout from its back, black and sleek with serrated, pointed tips.

"Oh, you've gotta be kiddin'! Now it's a porcupine?!"

The mutation howled as power coursed through its body. It felt greater strength than before, and its body was telling it to use it! It obeyed its instincts and leapt into the fray with greater speed than before. It caught Noctis off guard as it grabbed the Prince by the throat. He gagged as he was lifted into the air, his feet dangling. His friends rushed to help, but they were too slow.

It slammed Noctis to the ground once. Twice. Thrice. Before throwing him into a freighter.

"NOCT!" Gladio cried before his face morphed into rage. "Oh, that is it! C'mere, you ugly sonuvabitch!"

The Daemon crouched before it sprung forth with outstretched claws. Gladio brought down his blade on the creature's back just before it reached him. While the force of the blow was enough to stop its advance, it remained on its feet and stood its ground. The spikes on its back caught the edge of his broadsword and kept it in place.

"What?!" As Gladio attempted to pull the sword out, the Fledgling rammed its fist into his gut, knocking the wind out of him before taking a bite out of is shoulder, causing him to scream. It felt like rows of hundreds of sharp needles dug deeply into his skin. Gritting his teeth and powering through the pain, he let go of his sword and clasped his hands together, bringing down a hammerstrike on its body.

It proved effective as it was forced to back away. In its stumble, Gladio grabbed his sword and pulled it out of the damned thing's grasp before pulling away, clutching his shoulder. "Damn...! My shoulder's on fire!" Blood stained his fingers as he took a closer look at the wound. His eyes widened. The flesh around the bite mark was darkened to the point of becoming black. "The hell?!"

Ignis' eyes widened when he saw the wound and cursed. "Gladio, pull back! Gawain, I ask you tend to Gladio immediately! That wound is more than just infected!"

"R-right!"

"Prompto, fire off another flare! I'm going to grab Noct!"

"On it!" The blonde nodded as he switched weapons back to his handgun. Ignis rushed over to Noctis while he loaded the flare. The Daemon's head snapped over to his direction, a maddened gleam in its eye. It raised its spiked arm and swung downward, shooting off a series of sharp spikes.

Ignis, acting as swiftly as possible, twirled his knives as a chilling layer of frost covered the flats. With a spin, the blades extended with cold edges, reminiscent to that of a sword and knocked the quills away. The Fledgling roared and was about to pounce, but once again found its eyes blinded by Prompto's flare. Taking the distraction gratefully, Ignis pulled a disoriented Noctis away, moving over to the side and setting him against the wall.

"Noct, are you alright?" he asked in worry over his friend's condition. "Are you okay?!"

The prince groaned. "I feel like I was in a rodeo with a Behemoth..." he groused. "Crap... That thing isn't messing around."

"That isn't all it does, either." Gawain said with a grimace as he quickly worked on Gladio's wound, pouring a salve over it while the black growths slowly spread. "This isn't just an infection. Whatever that thing did, it's causing his blood to clot and his nerves to fail."

"Seriously?" Prompto paled horribly. The thought of Gladio being in worse pain, and maybe even worse, was enough to make him shake. "What-what do we do?"

Noctis rose up to his feet, albeit shakily as he extended his hands. In a burst of light, a towering broadsword appeared in his hands, not too different from Gladio's own.

"...we kill this thing as fast as possible." he said. "If we can kill it, that infection might disappear. Assuming this thing really is a daemon. Iggy, you got any bright ideas?"

The Crownsguard was silent as he scanned the area. The surrounding area was getting worse. The flames were starting to cover the entire area. At the rate things were going, it would not be long before the entire shipyard was enraptured in a sea of flames. And that was to say nothing of the Dust cargo inside the freighters. Once the inferno ate the freighters and seeped inside the metal, the Dust would explode.

And with such a wide assortment, the damage caused would be far worse than whatever the blaze could do. At this line of thought, however, the man slowly felt the gears in his head start to spin. Plans and formulas began to spin about in his mind. He sorted out the variables, took into consideration multiple factors and reactions, before an outcome was finally established.

"Gawain, how much Dust was transported here?" he asked, catching the red-headed Atlesian off-guard.

"W-what?"

"How much Dust is here?!" he got out as the Fledgling shook its body, slowly shrugging off the effects of the flare. "And what sorts of Dust were you carrying in these freighters?!"

"All sorts! Fire, Ice, Electricity, even Gravity Dust! Each freighter has about a ton in it! Why?!"

As the Fledgling regained its senses and bore down at the group, its quills shook uncontrollably while it dragged its claw against the ground, creating a screech that was grating to the ears. Ignis gripped his knives tightly. "...I must apologize in advance," he said, not looking away for a moment. "But you're going to have to explain to Councilman Izunia and the General about the loss of your shipment!"

* * *

When Roman Torchwick first took up this job of stealing the Schnee Dust shipment from Atlas, he thought it would be a breeze, especially with Devil and Plague keeping him company.

Now any thoughts of that were dashed from his mind and replaced by annoyance. The reason? The girls he was currently fighting against.

"Seriously, these brats keep getting weirder!"

He leaped back to avoid another sniper round courtesy of little red. Then he had to use his trusty cane to deflect a punch from the blonde. He always did better at long range, just shooting from a distance and setting them on fire. Close quarters was more Neo's specialty. That didn't mean he sucked at it completely. He just needed a bit more of an advantage over his opponent is all.

Sadly, he had no such advantage as he was being ganged up on three different sides. Ruby was sniping at him when given the opportunity while Yang kept up the pressure, throwing punch after punch as she tried to catch him off guard. And don't even get him started on the Schnee Heiress, who was backing them up with her glyphs.

On the plus side, though, she was starting to get tired. It wouldn't be long before she had to take a moment to rest. When that happened, Roman knew what to do in order to get one player out of the game.

Neo on the other hand was handling her opponents fairly better than him.

The Cat Faunus was definitely a pain in the ass, but she couldn't rely on those magic tricks of hers forever. Neo was already starting to learn that there was a small recharge time in between bursts, allowing her to attack the girl quickly and without relent. Penny, on the other hand, proved to be the only one of the two actually capable of matching her. Those dancing swords of hers made it a pain to break through, but Neo's Semblance was letting her get an edge in. She used it sparingly, of course. Last thing she needed was for her Aura to run out too quickly.

It must be nice, having a Semblance. Roman never learned what his was, despite having his Aura unlocked. Then again, it didn't really matter. Who needs superpowers when you've got smarts and a good set of hands and crew?

He blocked another punch, but found a knee just barely missing his solar plexus. Scowling, deflected a roundhouse and rammed the curved end of his cane into Yang's stomach, stunning her for a moment before he pulled her leg out from right underneath her, throwing her off balance and unto her back. Before he had the chance to take aim, though, Ruby stopped him with a well-time shot that actually grazed his cheek.

He gave a glare at the girl, which proved to be a bad idea as he soon found a boot to his chin, nearly biting off his own tongue in the process. "Ow!" he cursed as he rubbed the spot where the boot had nicked him as Yang flipped back up to her feet, cocking her gauntlets back. "Okay, you little brats... You are really starting to piss me off."

Deciding it was time to start getting more reckless, and maybe actually get a damned advantage in this fight, Roman dug into his coat pocket and took out a few Dust crystals. They were low quality ones he snagged a while back before they left, but they would get the job done. Yang didn't seem to concerned as she charged at him, rearing her fist back in mid-lunge while readying for the shot and blow. Roman merely smirked as he tossed an Ice Dust crystal up into the air, right in between the two of them before taking aim with his cane.

No one said they had to play fair, didn't they? And Roman Torchwick _never_ plays by the rules.

He pulled the trigger. A blast went out. In the next moment, a blast of cold ice exploded in the blonde's face, knocking her right off her feet and slamming her right into a freighter. "Yang!" the red reaper of the team cried in worry.

The blast was quite powerful in spite of it being produced from cheap Dust, but it was enough to knock the wind out of her sales. Long enough to make Roman's plans work themselves out. See, he had a plan in the works. A plan that Ruby and her partner were already doing for him as the heiress, in anger, casted another set of glyphs. He didn't know much about the Schnee's. Didn't really care, either. All he knew was that the plan was already in motion.

He just needed the golden opportunity. Ruby, in rage, switched her weapon back to scythe form and came at him, quicker than he expected. He almost tripped over his feet, ducking underneath a swing and parrying another that would have thrown him to the ground. Without breaking stride, though, Roman delivered a headbutt, causing Ruby to yelp. With a stylish spin, he rammed his cane into her stomach and pulled the trigger, hitting her point blank.

The girl hit the ground, sliding past Weiss before she flipped around and come to a grinding halt, digging her scythe into the ground to stop in her tracks. With her weapon buried in the ground, she then let out a few more rounds. Roman rolled into cover behind a freighter, taking the opportunity to check his ammo.

Just enough.

Just enough to get the job done.

The heiress created another glyph, this one as white as ice with fog emitting from it. He smirked. He tossed a cheap fire Dust Crystal and shot it with Melodic Cudgel. The energy blast detonated the crystal, creating a fiery explosion that washed over Weiss and Ruby.

The silver-eyed girl was blown away from her trust weapon while Weiss was the more resilient, stumbling back. However, it was her tired expression that made him grin. Before she even had a chance to retaliate or form a counterattack, he tossed another cheap Dust Crystal at her feet and fired off a round. When the blast struck, a black wave erupted over her and threw her right across the yard and into a metal shutter, smacking straight into it with a thunderous crash. Then her body went lip and slid to the ground.

"Two down..." Roman said, adjusting his bowler hat as he turned his attention back over to the blonde...

...and promptly received a powerful straight that knocked him flat on his ass. "Oof!" Aura or no, he swore he felt his nose shatter as he found himself flat on his back. Clutching his face in pain, he looked up to find Yang standing back up on her feet, only her lilac eyes were consumed by fiery red orbs that promised a brutal beatdown unlike any other and her blonde hair lit aflame and burning.

"...oh give me a _fucking_ break!"

Seriously! These brats just keep getting weirder!

* * *

 _'Seriously, these kids just don't quit...'_

Neo was starting to get annoyed. If not for the Cat Faunus' magic, then by that Atlesian girl and her constant refusal to pull back, already close to her and pushing her back. Since her Semblance used up quite a lot of Aura, she used it sparingly while avoiding getting hit. She was always good at reading her opponents, but when it came to Penny Polendina, she may as well have been reading a robot.

Her movements were too precise. Too coordinated. Too...inhuman. There were barely any openings in her attacks, and barely any wasted movement. It was as if she's been made to not make any combat mistakes.

That just disturbed Neo greatly. There was no such thing as perfection. If perfection existed, then her being a criminal wouldn't even come to be. She was a criminal because perfection was an illusion. For someone to fight "perfectly" meant that they were just skilled or playing a lie. Somehow, Neo thought Penny was a bit of both.

Her Semblance flared as she moved out of the way, letting the illusion shatter when Blake destroyed it with her magic. Seizing the opportunity, Neo went in and delivered a series of kicks, the sharp heels more or less acting as blades themselves. It also helped that they were aimed directly for her face, in spite of her attempts to deflect them with Gambol Shroud. One kick. Two kicks. Three. Four. The fifth kick and Gambol was pushed away, leading to the sixth kick connecting to her face.

The seventh came and she stumbled. Then the eight knocked her flat. Before she could ready her blade and deliver a fatal blade, Penny intervened with a burst of green energy, courtesy of her weapons, which danced in a circle and gathered massive power in the circle and then sent it flying.

She dodged it as quickly as she could, letting it blast a hole through a freighter, which then proceeded to explode into bursts of ice, fire, electricity and shrapnel that was propelled via Gravity Dust. Wearily, Neo looked at her surroundings. Things were getting bad. The fire was getting out of control. It wouldn't be long before it took over the entire docking yard. And after that happened, the whole place was going to become the center of one giant Dust explosion. Something she wasn't exactly looking forward to.

Blake clamored back up to her feet, shaking off the damage and readying her sword again. Neo twirled her sword around, giving the two girls a toothy grin, confident she would be able to take them both on. Sure, that Faunus girl's magic was annoying, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

Sadly, it seemed Roman had other ideas.

* * *

"NOBODY! HURTS! MY! SISTER!"

Yang roared angrily as she swung her fists to strike the mobster, who just barely evade each blow what would've broken a bone or two.

Things were growing troublesome. Blondie was somehow getting stronger and the other two were slowly recovering due to the potions Ice Queen had. Don't even get him started on the fire quickly spreading throughout the dock and dangerously getting closer to the freighters. He realized Devil was pretty much flame incarnate, but did he really have to torch the whole dock?!

And where the Hell was Plague when he needed him?! He was supposed to be providing backup!

 _[You look like you're having fun.]_ A voice cackled in his ear, courtesy of the tag on his lobe. Roman scowled heavily. Speak of the devil! _[Need help?]_

"Of course I need help!" he shouted as he was forced to back away, using every trick in the book to avoid getting hit. The last time blonde swung at him, he could have sworn he felt his Aura break and his arm crack.

 _[Consider it done.]_

A low *BANG!* cracked into the air. Suddenly, a loud creaking noise caught his attention and Roman looked up, finding one of the steel power lines coming down. Eyes becoming the size of soccer balls, Roman cursed and immediately dove to the ground. Yang attempted to give chase, but the tower came crashing down between them. Flames then consumed it, dividing them completely.

"...that was not what I had in mind, you asshole."

 _[I'll take that as a thank you. Now, take Neopolitan and get out of there. The mission is a bust.]_

Roman frowned as he got back up to his feet, dusting off his coat. "What about the Dust?"

 _[We've procured enough.]_

"Cinder ain't gonna like this."

 _[Cinder can deal. Now grab your girl and hurry up. The docks are going to turn into a literal warzone in a few short moments.]_

The mobster didn't need to think any longer. If Plague suggested he get the hell out of here, he was leaving. "Neo!" he shouted as loudly as he could, letting out a whistle. "C'mon! We're busting ass! Plans a bust! Move it!" Seeing blonde and her teammates, Little Red recovering thanks to the heiress, coming after him after finding a way around, he took the remains of his cheap Dust collection and threw it to the ground, turning to run. As the girls caught up to him, he spun around and fired off a blast at the remaining Dust shards.

Then the ground beneath them exploded with nature's fiery fury. It wouldn't stop them competely...but it made for one hell of a useful distraction.

Tipping his hat, Roman took his leave. Not far behind, gathering as much of her Semblance's power as she could muster, Neo left behind her illusion for the girls to break and for her to escape in the confusion.

He was so not looking forward to explaining this to Cinder...

* * *

"Prompto. When I give the word, ready your gun. And make sure your aiming." The sharpshooter nodded, eyes focused and cradling his handgun. "Noct, push that thing as far back as you can towards the freighters."

"And after that?"

"Run. As fast as you can back here."

Gawain grimaced. "The General is NOT going to be happy about this..." he said, clearly not approving of the idea. Given the current circumstances, however, he was sure the man would understand. Even if he wouldn't like the loss of so much Dust quantities. "What do I do?"

"If it strays too far, try and keep it occupied." Ignis responded. "Are we ready then, gentlemen?"

Before any of the men could respond, the Fledgling Daemon let out another shrill scream, bouncing its way toward them with quills shaking and claws ready to tear into their flesh. Without needing to be told, Noctis charged forward and blocked its advance with his greatsword, pushing it back with all of his might and putting his strength into the swing, throwing it back to its original position. It didn't stop its advance, however, as it charged at him again.

With eyes focused on his target, Noctis stretched out his hand and dismissed the greatsword, switching out for a pair of identical daggers. He raised the twins blades to intercept the beast's claws and locked it in place. The Fledgling screeched in Noctis' face. The Prince retaliated with a swift kick to the knee and forced it into a stumble. Once it was temporarily down, Noctis switched the daggers out for a spear and slammed the butt of it right in the Daemon's face, forcing back even further.

But he refused to let up here. He switched back to the greatsword and swung it with all his might. The blade impacted the Fledgling's body and sent it flying even closer to the freighter. Noctis switched back with his engine blade and finished it up with a warp strike. The attack was just enough to send it crashing into the side of the massive, metal container.

"Prompto, now!" Ignis gave the signal to the sharpshooter. It was also Noctis' cue to get the hell out of the blast zone. He threw his weapon as hard as he could wand warped away.

A split second later, a bullet whistled through the air.

The bullet struck true, blasting straight into what could be considered the Daemon's kneecap. Of course, that wasn't the primary objective. Ignis just needed to keep the bastard in one place for a single moment. Now that his target was momentarily immobilized, he threw the Elemental Bomb in his hand right into the fray. It knocked right against the freighter, bouncing off and hitting the floor. At that moment, Noctis landed right next to his friends, just in time as well as Ignis immediately placed himself between the Fledgling and his friends, hands outstretched and summoning as much magic as he could.

The Elemental Bomb then went off, releasing a thunderous storm that consumed the area around the Fledgling. The sparks even invaded the insides of the freighter.

In the next second, the whole area lit up like a firework. Complete with devastatingly explosive results of ice, fire, lightning and everything in between. The group of five got down on the ground as the explosion took place. A cacophony of light and energy erupted before them, shaking the very ground they were on and no doubt alerting anyone and everyone within a several mile radius.

Gawain groaned as he anticipated how much collateral damage had just been caused. The General was going to kill him for this. And if he doesn't, then specialist Schnee will. Or maybe Jacques would do the deed himself, since this WAS his shipment that was just destroyed, after all.

As Team LAPI pulled away, moving away from the sight of destruction in order to get Gladio away and check on him properly before the whole place went to hell, Gawain took one last glance at the ruined sight behind him and sighed deeply.

"I am _so_ not looking forward to that conversation..."

* * *

It would be an hour before the authorities arrived together with dispatched local Huntsmen and the fire department. By then, the entire shipyard was a blazing inferno and was still in the process of being contained. Whatever White Fang soldiers that were found alive and unconscious in the blaze were rounded up and arrested, taken away by the police. An ambulance had later arrived, tending to the wounded involved. Mainly Gladio, due to the horrible infection on his shoulder.

Or rather, the lack of an infection. True to speculation, the Fledgling's demise had stopped whatever was being done to him, much to the group's relief. Unfortunately, the fact remained that Gladio's shoulder still hurt like hell and had to be treated with the utmost care.

"How you doing big guy?" Prompto asked, check on the burly man in question who sat on the backseat of the ambulance, gauze wrapped around his shoulder. "I doubt that scar will attract the ladies much."

Gladio smirked. "I dunno. I think it has a certain charm to it." he said, laughing lightly before cringing, clutching his ribs. "Ow... Okay, note to self. Don't laugh for a while."

"Probably a good idea." Noctis agreed. "I'm sore all over. Seriously, what the hell was that thing? It sure didn't look like any Daemon I've ever seem."

"There's also the fact that it was outside of Lucis." Ignis added with a troubled expression. "Due to Queen Sylvia and Lady Lunafreya's powers, the Daemons have been unable to set foot outside the kingdom."

"We even sure that thing was a Daemon? Didn't look like any I've ever seen."

Noctis frowned heavily, crossing his arms. "Maybe...it could be just like those Grimm Ruby and the others fight in the Forever Fall." he suggested, the idea troubling him deeply. "Maybe they're a new sub-species or something. A result of the World Crossing."

"That'll boil over well..." Prompto groaned, shaking his head. It was bad enough that some people were starting to blame everyone for the appearance of never-before-seen Grimm. Now they might have to deal with new Daemons popping up? Granted, he's only ever seen Goblins, Bombs and the occasional Iron Giant, but he had a fairly good idea about what kind of Daemons were running around.

He then looked over to the side and found Team RWBY not far off, huddled together. Judging by the expressions on their faces, he could tell that things were still awkward between them. "Even after all that fighting... I guess things really won't be that easy."

"Don't bet on that, Prompto." The sharpshooter looked at Ignis, who smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "After all... The night isn't over just yet." Prompto raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and then looked at his camera. Before long, a smile was back on his face.

He was DEFINITELY going to show the others this.

* * *

 _'...aaaaaawkwaaaaaaard...'_

That was the only thing that Ruby and Yang could think of as they sat together in silence while the police and Huntsmen worked around them while the fire department attempted to save what little Dust cargo there was left of the Atlas Shipment. Blake and Weiss couldn't look each other in the eye, even when they attempted to do so. There was a sense of trepidition and forlorn in the air, though it wasn't depressing or nerve-wracking. If anything, it was exactly what the sisters thought it was.

Awkward.

"...so..." Yang whispered, leaning towards Ruby. "...who's going to crack and apologize first?"

"I don't know...but should we really be asking this now?" She questioned back.

"C'mon! After everything we've been through, shouldn't either of them at least apologize?"

Her question was greeted with piercing stares, courtesy of Weiss and Blake who could hear their whispering. However, the glares didn't last long as both looked back at each other and then sighed, realizing that Yang was right. They had both been avoiding each other, and after what happened, both realized they screwed up. For Weiss, it was in her part of avoiding Blake out of something as trivial as her family past. Sure, it was harsh, but Blake had no part in any of that.

The Faunus Girl herself felt guilty for having tried to goad Weiss into them trying to investigate the White Fang. After what happened tonight, she should have known better. How many people have died tonight because of the White Fang? Because of Devil? What was she thinking, trying to get the roped up in this? Worse, she was trying to use her dead brother's own memory.

"Um, I...!" the two started to say together before realizing this and promptly stammering.

"Y-you go first."

"N-no, you start."

"Please, I insist!"

"No, no. It's fine. You can go first."

Ruby and Yang looked back and forth between the two before turning to each other, grinning from ear to ear and high-fiving each other. Moments later, Gawain and Penny arrived, the former of which looked extremely tired. "What a day..."

"G-Gawain!" Ruby leaped up to her feet, cheeks rosy pink. "H-How're things...?"

 _'Oh, she has it bad.'_ Yang laughed inside her head. _'Puppy dog love is so cute. Still, she knows how to pick 'em~'_

"Well, I just got off the phone with my Father. He's going to explain the situation to General Ironwood, but I'm going to be honest, I think he's not going to be happy with me."

"Yeah...I can imagine that. With all the Dust you're supposed to guard either getting stolen the or go up in smoke..." Yang nodded sympathetically. "But it sounds like you're dad must be pretty close to Ironwood to be able to explain what happened so easily."

"Well, my father has connections. Like I said before, he was the one who got me assigned to this job." The male then cringed. "None of us ever expected for Torchwick and the White Fang to come in and hit us this hard...so many guards are dead because of my lack of proper foresight."

"B-but it wasn't your fault." Ruby defended. "B-besides, at least you managed to get some of the Dust safe, right?"

"True." Gawain conceited. "Though I'm not sure he'll see it that way." Shortly afterwards, Gawain smiled and bowed his head. "At any rate, thank you guys. If it weren't for you, I think I would be dead by now."

"No prob. You're just lucky we saw the fire from our dorm rooms." Yang replied. "When we saw that, we knew something was up, so we rushed over. Good thing my little sis is quite the marksman."

"I know." Gawain turned to the silver eyed girl. "Thank you, Ruby. If you hadn't come, I most certainly would've been dead."

Penny bowed as well, a large grin on her face. "And I thank you as well, Friend Ruby!" she said cheerfully. "Permission to hug you!"

"Um...granted?"

She sorely regretted that moments later when Penny barreled right up to her and started to wring her out like a wet towel. She felt as if her body was being squeezed by a hydraulic press. She could feel her muscles scream and, was that the sound of her bones cracking? And she couldn't breath from the super tight hug.

"Uh, Penny? I think you should let go now. Her face is turning blue..."

Penny, much to her relief, complied and released her. Ruby gratefully gasped for air, gulping as much of sweet sweet oxygen as she could in case Penny bearhugged her again. The rest of Team RWBY could only laugh at her misfortune while she gave them a cute glare. Gawain also laughed at Ruby's innocent acts. He found it strangely refreshing...

Despite what they had endured not too long ago, they were able to return to a light-hearted atmosphere and temporarily forget about it.

It was honestly quite a pleasant experience. He did not know how or why, but Team RWBY seemed to do it so easily. If only the rest of his own team were here to see this.

* * *

Roman and Neo had returned to their little hideout, far away from any sort of prying eyes. As he expected, Cinder was already there, flanked by her two subordinates. Off to the side was Plague, sitting atop the collected pile of crates with his mask gone. As there were no grunts around, he was free to expose his face. Even so, the shadow of his hood hid his face, leaving only a smirking expression visible. Cinder, on the other hand, didn't look the least bit happy as her face was set into a frown and her golden eyes were smoldering.

For a moment, the mobster wondered if she was thinking of having herself a little Roman Torchwick BBQ. Neo, sensing the danger, immediately tensed up and readied to pull out her weapon.

"...you disappoint me, Roman." Cinder began, tone even. "I was told you were the best. You even had the help of one of the most ruthless men in the entire White Fang. And yet..."

"Hey." Roman waved a hand. "I was able to snag at least a few cases of Dust. Also, may I say that it is not entirely MY fault, okay? I wasn't expecting a bunch of teenage brats, much less the freaking Prince of Lucis and his merry band of Crownsguard to be there."

"He has a point." Plague chimed. "Of course, we also weren't able to eliminate Gawain, either. A real shame."

Emerald Sustrai frowned heavily, crossing her arms. "So?" she dismissed his disappointment. "Just let me handle it. I can-"

"No, you won't." Cinder cut her off immediately, causing her to lock up. "Our orders are simply to bring distrust between the Kingdoms of Vale and Atlas. We leave the assassination of the High Councilman's bodyguard to them."

"Y...yes, ma'am."

"Hmph. I'm impressed." Cinder turned her head, finding Devil stepping out of the shadows. Unlike Plague, his mask wasn't away from his face. Then again, she never expected it to be there. Plague was casual, once stating that it didn't matter if she saw his face or not. Devil, on the other hand, was cautious. He never trusted anyone, outside those he was apparently close to. Plague being one of them. "You have your pet taught well, Maiden."

Emerald scowled, turning on him. Mercury Black, however, prevented her from attacking and grabbed her shoulder, shaking his head. "Don't." he warned. "He's just tryin' to rile you up, Em." The green haired girl scowled, knowing he was right. Devil took every opportunity he had to mock them for his own amusement. She refused to give him the satisfaction.

"So I did...and it would seem that you failed to complete your mission, Devil." The woman replied with narrowed eyes. "You had your chance to eliminate the High Councilman's bodyguard, yet you retreated before finishing the job when those children arrived."

"Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to incinerate each and every one of them into piles of ash." The masked Faunus said as the room grew noticeably warmer. "However, Plague was right. His Majesty wanted the Crown Prince alive for whatever reason. And I refuse to go against his wishes. Besides... You have no room to talk to me about failure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it your task to eliminate anyone possessing the Silver-Eyes?"

At his question, Cinder's face contorted into a scowl of her own. "We have only found out recently that she was a student at Beacon. She hasn't even awoken to her powers yet."

"Recently? How sad. Your information network must truly be pathetic. Why, we've known about her for months now." Devil chortled. "And don't think that her dormant powers equal weakness. She is still a threat...to you anyway..."

"And just what are you implying?" Embers flickered to life in her hand as flames appeared in her eyes. Devil glanced at her...

...and the room's temperature skyrocketed to scorching hot.

Roman tugged at his collar, waving a hand at his face in an attempt to provide some cold air. Neo, meanwhile, blushed heavily as she watched Devil create black flaming wing behind his back. A show of force and a declaration. A warning that, if Cinder tried to do something stupid, she'd pay dearly for it.

Before either side could attempt to do something, a single voice called out, ceasing all conflict the moment before it could begin.

" _Enough_ , Flaemis."

A single figure stepped out into view, removing himself from the shadows. "Wraith..." Plague greeted with a smirk. "What brings you to the party?"

"To keep these idiots from killing each other." Wraith replied, hands in his pockets as he glared at the horned Faunus. "Keep your temper in check. Do you intend to disgrace His Majesty by clowning around with them?"

"Of course not." Devil replied fiercely. "I am merely reminding Cinder and her posse to remain vigilant and not screw things up for us."

"Truly? It appears to me that you were goading her into attacking first so you could write off your actions as fair game. I realize that as much as you detest Cinder and her group, at least try to be civil for his Majesty's sake. That is...if you don't have a death wish." Plague laughed, holding his stomach at the way Devil reacted.

He looked ready to blow his top, but he somehow managed to reign in his temper. The flames on his body flickered and faded away, receding back into him. Wraith looked pleased before he turned to Cinder's group. "As for the Silver-Eyed Girl... We leave her be for now. Our current goal is to obtain the necessary supplies for when its time to bring Vale down on its knees."

"Quick question." Roman raised a hand. "Why's Little Red so dangerous? I mean, sure, she's pretty damn good with a scythe, but what's a 15-year-old runt gonna do against an entire armed military force and three of the scariest fucking sons of bitches on the face of Remnant?"

"You'll know soon enough." Wraith responded, much to his displeasure. "How much Dust were you able to retrieve?"

"Eh, not much. On a scale of 1 to 10, about a three."

"...good enough, I suppose."

"And what about that red-haired kid we were supposed to off?"

"That boy is none of our concern at the moment."

"Say what? I thought we were supposed to kill the guy. I mean, Devil here seemed pretty gung-ho about it. Why the change of plans?" Roman questioned.

"While it is true eliminating him would've been beneficial to us, the main priority was securing the Dust. The bodyguard's death was a mere secondary objective." Wraith answered. "Besides, even though we only acquired a portion of the shipment, most of it went up in flames from that explosion, correct?"

"Yeah. Why? I thought we needed all of it, not set it off like some bigass bomb."

"While it is true that we require resources...another of our objectives is to cripple the local defenses. It doesn't matter if the Dust is stolen or destroyed. Due to recent events, Vale still lacks Dust for its huntsmen and militias. They are virtually under-prepared for what is to come next."

Cinder smiled thinly. "In other words...we never actually needed the shipment. How clever of you."

"Spare the flattery, Fall. After all... We haven't even _begun_."

* * *

 _ **[THE KING AND QUEEN HAVE PAWNS]**_

Ozpin read over the message that Qrow had sent him, trying to decipher its meaning. However, he already had an idea of what it truly meant.

It would seem that his and Qrow's previous conversation about those four weren't off the mark.

Breathing a hefty sigh, Ozpin leaned back in his seat and looked out the window, staring at the shattered moon hanging in the sky. Out there, two foes he would soon be facing in the near future were waiting for him. Waiting to make the first move.

"I suppose I'd best prepare then..."

* * *

"And so it begins..."

Elsewhere, somewhere in Remnant, Ardyn himself stood by his lonesome, staring up at the shattered sky. After twenty years, the sight was still something to behold. He never would have imagined such a world like this. Such beauty and vile, mixed together perfectly. Between adversity and humanity's foolishness with the Faunus, as well as the threat of the Grimm, he briefly pondered what life would have been like if he had found himself here earlier. Yet, that thought was quickly banished. It didn't matter. After all, whether one likes it or not, Remnant wasn't going to be the same anymore. In truth, he didn't want Remnant to get involved in his own plans. They were just innocent bystanders.

Besides, this world's problems were not his. They could solve their own problems. His concerns lied with the Lucis bloodline.

"I wonder if you all are watching." Ardyn muttered to himself as a cold wind brushed by. His hand held down his hat, keeping it in place while he stared up at the beautiful night sky that not even Eos could compete with. "If you are, then watch closely. As I bring this foolish charade to a close..."

A sickening smile crossed his features. For a moment, his face shifted, skin pale and black fluid dripping from his orifices, making that smile look all the more horrifying.

"...and bring an end to an era!"

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Chapter: END**

* * *

 _Twenty years have passed since the day the Kingdom of Lucis traversed boundaries and dimensions, arriving in the World of Remnant. Since then, much of the world has changed, for better or for worse. Adam Taurus, who would have become a terrifying monster that would lead the White Fang astray, is now a stalwart guardian of the Kingsglaive. Weiss Schnee, who would have become bitter for the "war" the White Fang waged against their family, grieves for a lost sibling that would have never come. Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum and his three companions attend Beacon Academy as representatives of the Cultural Exchange Program, though their time with the newly minted Team RWBY will soon become a fateful meeting that crosses destinies. One, a Silver-Eyed Warrior destined to stand against the darkness, and another who will become the Chosen King of Light._

 _This is merely the beginning of their story. And tonight's events are but a mere prelude for what is to come..._

* * *

 **-ARC III: Dancing in the Shadows-**

 **COMING SOON...**


	17. Chapter 17

**Co-Written with and Edited by Starlight's Poet**

 **AN: Also, for fans and readers of the Webtoon, UnOrdinary, Starlight's Poet and I have written an UnOrdinary Story called, An UnOrdinary Story: Testament. It can be found on my profile and in the Misc. Anime/Manga section of the website. Please check it out if you have the chance.**

* * *

 **Final Fantasy x RWBY Crossover:** **  
** _ **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**_

* * *

 **Interlude One: Deep Breaths**

* * *

A month had passed since the events that transpired at the docks in Vale. Roman Torchwic had successfully escaped, though the discovery and revelation that he was cooperating with the White Fang, and that daemons were possibly appearing outside of Lucis in spite of the efforts of the Fleuret family, were still a startling one to Teams LAPI and RWBY. Ozpin had been naturally informed of the more major details, which were then spread among those in his inner circle.

Early in the day, a meeting was called between the Headmasters of the four Huntsmen Academies. In a special meeting room, Ozpin sat in a rather uncomfortable chair, which stood on only three legs rather than four. The room was dimly lit and circular in form, large enough to fit several hundred people inside. On the ceiling was a round dome that flickered to life, glowing dark green before a series of images began to flicker in front of the man. The images fluctuated and twisted before they settled into two figures, both adult males.

The first man was tall and broad with wide shoulders, dressed predominantly in a white military uniform with black trims. His face was gaunt and sullen, his cheeks sunken and his eyes weary, yet also attentive. There was a metal strip, embedded into the flesh of his brow while frosty white hairs lined the sides of his temples. The second man, in contrast, was a tad taller than Ozpin and less imposing, having gray hair and sporting a bushy beard across his chin. He wore a brown great coat with a matching mantle, which also sported cross emblems on each side. completed by dark brown slacks and dress shoes. In addition, he wore a white dress shirt under his coat, a western necktie and carried a pocket watch.

"I apologize for the meeting on such short notice." Ozpin apologized no sooner had his colleagues appeared via holograms. "However, I don't believe I need to tell you why this was necessary."

"No, you do not." Leonardo Lionheart sighed deeply, shaking his head before he took a moment to look around the room, noticing that one spot in the circular formation the three men were forming was missing. "I see our fellow in Vacuo is absent..."

"They were busy with another matter."

James Ironwood quirked an eyebrow, incredulous. "We just received word that Roman Torchwick, the most notorious criminal in all of Remnant, is working with Sienna Khan's faction, and you're telling me that they were bust with something more important?!"

"You do recall what Vacuo is like, I hope." Leonardo reminded the General before his face turned sour. "But, to think... Daemons? Appearing outside of Lucis? H-how is this possible? In the last twenty years Lucis has stood with us here in this world, there has not been a single sighting of Daemons ever appearing outside Lucis' borders!"

"Is it possible that Sylvia's power has begun to wane?"

Ozpin shook his head. "No. According to Regis, both her power and Lunafreya's are still as strong as they ever were. However, the description Noct gave in regards to the Daemon has me concerned."

With a few taps of the button on his Scroll, a monitor appeared in between the three Headmasters, revealing a rough sketch created by one of Beacon's faculty who was privy to Ozpin's secrets, showing what the creature that fought the Prince of Lucis looked. It's ghastly appearance and human-esque form was enough to unsettle Ironwood, but kept his face neutral. Leonardo, however, visibly shifted in his seat, his face pale.

"Whenever a Hunter, Crownsguard or Glaive encounters a Daemon, they're almost always well-documented. As such, the bestiary has a wide variety of daemons and their abilities, excluding those with incredible power." Ozpin continued, tension in his voice. "This daemon, however, was not mentioned in the bestiary. This can mean one of two things. Either this was a previously unknown daemon that had never been encountered before, or..."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed dangerously. "...it's a new kind of daemon. It looks far too human." His hands balled into fists, leaning forward in his seat. "Oz, this information is dangerous. If word gets out that daemons have started to appear outside of Lucis-"

"It would be disastrous..." Leonardo weeped at the very thought. "Our Huntresses and Huntsmen... They're not like the Kingsglaive or the Crownsguard. Much less the Hunters. For as long as we can remember, they've all been trained to fight Grimm. The daemons are not Grimm. They are worse. We do not have the resources to fight them."

Even though twenty years had passed since Lucis had come to join the Vytal Treaty, and thus recognized as an official Kingdom of Remnant, the differences in what kind of monsters their respective warriors faced were still too great. The Hunters had fought dangerous wildlife on a daily basis, even taking on creatures that could kill Grimm with terrifying ease. The daemons were even worse, appearing only at night or in dark, hidden areas that only the bravest would dare venture into. Even with Dust, Huntsmen and Huntresses struggled to face off against the daemons. Semblances provided only a slight edge against them. When word of this spread, worries and concerns grew that the daemons would appear in other Kingdoms as well, though up until now, there was no reported sightings.

That being said, Regis and Ozpin didn't dare take that chance. They had taken preemptive measures to ensure that, even in this event, the settlements and cities would be protected. Much like the cities in Lucis, every city, settlement and village was outfitted with the best lighting system. It would prove to be efficient, as daemons naturally hated any space with light. Hence why they almost never appeared out in the daylight.

"If the daemons haven't begun to appear outside Lucis' borders, then it can only mean one thing." Ironwood said, clenching his teeth out of frustration. "It's Izunia. It has to be him."

The Headmaster of Shade Academy gaped at him. "I understand that Ardyn Izunia was the Chancellor of Niflheim, but you can't accuse the man of something that may or may not be out of his control!" he said, aghast. While he was fully aware of the story around the High Councilman, he was among the few who had doubts. Among other reasons. "Also, we have no proof of his involvement. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Leader of Team GLAE also present when Prince Noctis and Team RWBY encountered this creature?"

"That is correct." Ozpin nodded. "His aide proved invaluable. Even if it did come at the cost of several hundred thousand lien's worth of Dust." That last one was a poorly made attempt at humor, given the small grin on his face, aimed at Ironwood.

The man grunted, folding his arms. "While I am...displeased at the lost of valuable resources, as far as we know, no one in Remnant aside from those in Lucis knows anything about the daemons. What they are. Why the only appear in the shadows. Izunia was an enemy of Lucis. More importantly, Regis himself told us that Niflheim utilized the daemons to a certain degree in their conquest to take over the kingdom. If anyone knows more about the daemons, it would be Izunia."

"Even if you say that, how would he have been able to transport it without anyone noticing?" Leonardo continued to challenge. "All cargo and air traffic in Vale is monitored closely. There is no Kingdom with better security than this! It would be next to impossible for anyone to smuggle anything into the Kingdom without SOMEONE noticing!"

"While I agree with you on this, Leonardo, there is another possibility for the Daemon's appearance. I was informed by the young Prince that when his group encountered the man named Devil of the White Fang, he was about to engage them, but retreated. In his place, he called upon the Daemon of discussion as if it were a pet. So another possibility is that he may have been brought by the invading forces rather than Izunia." Ozpin said.

This immediately put the two on high alert. The poor Lion Faunus looked ready to pass out on the spot. Ironwood did not look pleased by this in the least. If there was anything that frustrated him more than anything, it was when there was only so little information to go on. "So you're saying that the White Fang is a suspect in this Daemon's appearance? What's more, one of their top members has one under its control? Oz, if word of this gets out..."

"I know." The Beacon headmaster nodded morbidly. "Which is precisely why this must remain under wraps as we conduct a thorough investigation." With a strong grip on his cane, Ozpin looked at Leonardo. "Leo, how good would you say your covert team of Huntress is?"

"They are no better stealth operatives than them." Leo replied. "Nowhere near compared to James' own men, but they're skilled."

"Good. I'll need them to investigate this matter. With the Vytal Festival coming up, we can't take any risks." Leo nodded. Ozpin then turned his attention to James. "How things proceeding in terms of surveillance on your end, James?"

J"Nothing worthy to note, I'm afraid. I've had my agents keep an eye on Izunia for any suspicious activity, but so far nothing." He shook his head. "What's more is that despite my reservations, the Council is still insistent that he attend the Vytal Festival personally to represent Atlas."

Ozpin sighed, running a hand through his hair. For a moment, he felt his age catch up to him. "I was afraid as much. I believe we should simply carry out our duties. I only ask that the two of you don't do anything rash."

"Rash?" Leonardo scoffed. "The only one we have to worry about that is James."

"I'm not being rash. I'm just cautious and concerned." He argued.

"But you don't deny the fact you are bringing your fleet over to Vale for the festival?"

At this, Ironwood scowled. "It's a precaution!" he argued. "And a warning to Queen and the White Fang!"

"To quote Oz, who do you send first?" Leonardo countered with a frown. "The flag-bearers, who march to the front lines and lead the troops? Or the scouts, who approach quietly and without causing a scene?"

The Headmaster of Vale sighed, finding himself immensely tired all of a sudden. "Are we done bickering like children?" he asked, growing rather annoyed. "We can discuss James' overcautious behavior another time. Right now, our main focus should be to discover whether or not daemons are truly being smuggled into the Kingdoms, are naturally appearing, and if there truly is a third player at work. Am I clear, gentlemen?" When neither men answered, Ozpin seeped more authority into his voice. "I said, _are we clear_?"

"Crystal." they replied a moment later.

"Good. Then meeting adjourned." The holographic images of his fellow headmasters faded away, vanishing while the dome on the ceiling dimmed and faded, no longer glowing. Now alone, Ozpin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing his eyes and temple. "I am truly getting too old for this..."

* * *

Weiss blinked. "...I'm sorry. I think I misheard you." she said, turning to face Ruby fully. "But did you just say you want me to go with you to Patch during the break this week?"

"That's what I just said." Ruby nodded, still smiling. "I figured since we've got a few days off before the next semester starts, me and Yang could go back home to Patch. Unless, you're busy."

Weiss took the moment to think. She didn't really have anything planned over the break, except perhaps compiling a list of plans for next semester. She did take her studying seriously. On the one hand, she wasn't entirely against the idea. One of the fundamentals of building trust between team members was learning everything there was to know without pushing the boundaries. After what happened at the docks between her and Blake, she figured she could take the opportunity to learn more about her teammates. On the other hand, she also wanted to work more on her studies. Plan out a few events and sessions once she picked up their schedule for the next semester.

After thinking on it, she shrugged and smiled. "I don't see why not." she said, causing Ruby to beam. "I assume Blake will be coming with also?"

"Oh, she better." Yang called from the bathroom, currently in the midst of drying out her hair. "Otherwise, I'm gonna have to get me a cat trap. She is going to hang out with us, god dammit. Even if I have to bust out the catnip!"

Ruby sighed. "Yang, for the last time, just because Blake is a Cat Faunus doesn't make her an actual cat!"

"And like I told you before! I totally saw her eyeballing that ball of yarn the other day! And did you forget how much she loves Tuna?"

"Well...okay, you got me there...but still!"

At that moment, a familiar head of black hair with cat ears peeked out the door. "Is Yang done yet?" Blake asked as she entered the room. When Weiss and Ruby shook their heads, Blake sighed in exasperation. "How long does one girl take to dry their hair? Even I'm not that bad, and I an extra pair of ears to be careful with."

"Wait, really?" Suddenly, Ruby looked very interested. "Are your ears sensitive?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You should probably keep that to yourself, unless you want Yang finding out."

"...Good point." Blake conceded.

"So...do you want to come with us to Patch over the break?"

"Patch?" the former Glaive asked, tilting her head. "Is that your guys' home?"

"Mmhm! We decided to pay dad a visit!"

"Well, I don't see why not. I've got nothing planned."

Ruby grinned widely. "Yes! Team RWBY's coming home with us!" she cheered. "I'm gonna go tell dad the good news!" In the next second, she burst out the room, leaving behind a trail of rose petals in her wake.

"She really uses her semblance for everything without a second thought, doesn't she?"

"You have no idea..."

* * *

"Yeah, okay. No, no! Really, it's fine, Mom! I-I know. I love you too. Bye." After closing his Scroll, Jaune sighed and shook his head before slipping the handheld device back in his pocket. "Why does she gotta be such a worrywart?"

"Is something the matter, Jaune?" His partner asked as she walked up to him.

"No, not really. It was just my Mom calling me about the upcoming break."

"And I guess something happened?"

"You could say that..." Jaune nodded. "I was planning on visiting my folks, but turns out almost all of my sisters somehow came down with the flu." he said, sighing heavily. Despite being the youngest of eight children, his pride as a man more or less made him worry about his sisters on a constant daily basis. Including his eldest siblings, no exceptions. "And my mother, being the over reactive and overprotective woman she is, decided it would be better if I didn't come, unless I want to get sick."

"Because of a flu?" Ren asked, looking up from his book. Off to the side, he caught Nora trying to break into the pantry, hoping to snag herself the snacks he had hid there for them later. Thankfully, he had the foresight to add several extra locks, as well as asking for Pyrrha's help in hiding her weapon from her, lest she use it to get to said snacks. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"Okay, in her defense, that was sort of my fault." Jaune said sheepishly, giving his team an awkward laugh. "When I was younger, I got pretty sick easily. It never got really bad, like bronchitis or anything, but she really worried over me a lot. Around the time I met Mr. Drautos, I managed to get over my sickly phase."

"Makes sense in context, I suppose." Pyrrha nodded.

"So, what're you planning on doing during the Break, Pyrrha?"

"I'm not sure. I was debating whether or not to visit my uncle, or stay here at Beacon to hone my skills." The warrior shrugged. "I don't want to get rusty over the break."

"Well, that's no time to spend the time off, were teenagers. We gotta have some fun somewhere..." Jaune dipped his head in thought. What COULD they do? They couldn't visit family over the break due to their own circumstances, but it would be boring to just stay at Beacon. There's gotta be something they can do. It wasn't like they could just hop on a bullhead and just visit a kingdom that...Suddenly he got an idea. "I know! Guys! Why don't we go to Lucis?"

That grabbed everyone's attention, even Nora who was in the middle of prying the locks to the pantry off.

"Lucis? Over the break? What brought this on?" Ren questioned.

"Well, since my parents won't let me visit, I figured I could see how my teacher's doing. Assuming he's not on duty." he said before grinning. "Besides, I kinda want to tell him all about our time here at Beacon in person."

The resident gunslinger chuckled. "In other words, you want to brag."

"That, and want him to meet you guys." Jaune added. "What do you say? Think you guys are up for it?"

Before Ren could open his mouth, asking for a little more time to think on the subject, Nora darted right over and raised a hand. "Do they got good food?!"

"Some of the best!"

"I say we go!" Nora cheered.

He groaned. "Welp. I know what we're doing." he said, though he couldn't say he was entirely against the idea. He had been curious to see what Lucis might be like. "What about you, Pyrrha?"

"I think it's a wonderful idea." the red head clapped her hands in agreement. "I have no objections. Besides, I've always wanted to see Insomnia for myself! Uncle always talked about how beautiful it was, putting even a city as advanced as Atlas to shame."

"Then it's settled! To Lucis we go!" The team leader cheered.

"Yeah!"

* * *

"Yo, Gladio. Shower's free!"

The burly Crownsguard looked up from his magazine, finding a topless Noctis walking out of the bathroom with a towel over his head. "That was quick." Gladio noted before he bookmarked his page and set the magazine down. "Would've thought you took your time in there."

"I'm not a girl." Noctis huffed, heading over to his bed. "Or at the very least, like Prompto. Be glad Iggy made that schedule to decide who gets to use the shower free."

"Eh, good point." Gladio conceded. They never understood why or how in the hell Prompto could take so long in the bathroom, especially when it was just him taking a shower. There were a few theories, but none that they were willing to share. "Speaking of our photo expert and chef, where are they?"

"I think they're down by the lobby. Iggy said that they were going to talk with Team CFVY about something." the Prince shrugged. "Still, to think the break's already here... And that whole incident at the docks wasn't too long ago, either." As he remembered that brutal night, the fire that swallowed up the warehouses and docks and workers and all, he remembered the vicious Daemon that attacked them on Devil's orders. He looked at Gladio, particularly at his shoulder, where the Daemon had bit him. "How's your shoulder doing?"

"Still a little sore, but it's attached." Gladio huffed, rolling his arm for emphasis. "Honestly, I'm more pissed that I didn't see that attack coming."

"Yeah, well, we didn't know Daemons could show up outside of Lucis." Noctis said before frowning deeply. "That still doesn't make any sense to me. Luna and Lady Sylvia are the only reason those suckers haven't started to appear outside of Lucis. In fact, it's thanks to them that there's been less sightings of Daemons recently."

"Did your dad say anything when you called him up?"

"He said he was going to talk about it with Ozpin and the other Headmasters."

"Gotcha." The Shield nodded. "Hopefully we'll get some answers soon. I can already imagine how the rest of Remnant would react if this got out."

"And knowing our luck, this may not be the end of it. But you know what's crazy? You saw how Devil treated that Daemon, right? Like some kinda pet or attack dog."

"Hard not to, since he practically sicked the bastard on us." Gladio huffed. That said, Noctis did raise an excellent point. "Daemons aren't like normal Monsters. You can't tame them. Hell, the best the Nifs could do was just sick them on anyone they wanted to get rid of."

Noctis grimaced. "But Devil was able to order it around. It listened to him. That should be impossible, right?"

"You know what I think, Noct?" Gladio sighed. "I think we deserve a fucking break. Thinking about this right now ain't gonna help us. We've got a shit ton of questions, but no answers. The best we can do is just wait and hope for something to happen, for better or worse. And speaking of the break, what're you thinking?"

"How long does the break last?" Noctis asked.

"A few days."

"Damn. I guess the road trip's a ways off, then." Originally, the Prince planned on going on a road trip around Duscae, as they had originally discussed weeks before. However, if the break was short, then it wouldn't be worth it.

Gladio, on the other hand, had a suggestion. "Well, how about we visit New Tenebrae?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, it's been a while since we saw Luna and the Oracle. So why not take the chance since we have a few days off? Besides." Gladio adopted a grin as he leaned forward. "You know you want to see your future bride-to-be again."

"Hey, come on..." Noctis groaned. Seriously, do his friends have to tease him about his relationship with Luna every time?

"Plus, I'm sure Stella would also be happy to see you."

At this, the Prince sighed and held his face in his hands. Contrary to what others teased him about, he was fully aware that Stella viewed him in much the same way he viewed Luna. She was beautiful, yes, but his heart was already set on the beautiful woman that had helped him and stood at his side for almost every step of the way since he was put in that damn wheelchair. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but she had to have known how he felt, right? She would have been blind, otherwise.

"...I'll see if there's a Bullhead leaving for New Tenebrae." he said after a moment. "Also, if I were you, I'd hurry inside the shower before Prompto comes back."

* * *

 _(Time Skip, Several Days Later)_

To Weiss' pleasant surprise, Patch was far more than just a simple settlement.

It was common knowledge that settlements outside the cities and kingdoms were often at risk from Grimm attacks, hence leading to the constant requirement of aide and resources to defend their home. More often than not, a Huntsmen was stationed at these settlements, in order to defend it properly. The Council believed that it was the best way to conserve man power needed to protect, as they said, "a waste of money and time." It was a cold way of thinking, but ultimately, there were more settlements that were defended by these sentiments than there were settlements being destroyed by lack of firepower.

Patch was neither of these.

It was a quiet and peaceful town that was defended with barricades and what appeared to be trained guards on patrol. She recognized a couple of them as Huntsmen by the way they carried themselves, and saw that some of the others even bore the Kingsglaive uniform, which surprised her. She didn't think that there were any Glaives stationed this far from Lucis.

"Welcome to Patch, ladies." Yang said as she stepped in front of the group, stretching her arms out wide. "We offer breakfast in bed, hardcore retired badasses and Kingsglaive from none other than Remnant's guest, Lucis! We hope you enjoy your stay~"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "That has to be the worst sales pitch. Ever." she said, though she couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Of all time."

"I think it's lovely." Blake said as she looked around, smiling. Especially when she noticed that a few of the people currently roaming around were Faunus, evident by their extra appendages. The same could also be said about the patrolling Kingsglaive, who had an extra set of ears on their heads. "Hard to believe there's a settlement like this outside the Kingdoms."

Ruby grinned. "That's because it wasn't officially sanctioned." she said, surprising Weiss as she faced the group. "Patch was the first actual settlement built by retired Huntsmen and Huntresses who wanted a break from their work. It started out as a safe haven for people who wanted away from the constant fighting and fear of Grimm, so before long, it turned into a village. And then it's own little world."

"...how do you know all that?" the white-haired girl questioned, stunned. The fact that she was hearing this from Ruby, who struggled with her studies, was enough to throw her off guard. Either Hell had frozen over, or she was going senile. She was sincerely hoping it was the former.

"We grew up here, so I don't see why she shouldn't know." Yang huffed. "We still get Grimm, though it's usually just Beowolves, Creeps and the occasional Ursa. We also get flocks of Nevermores every now and then when it's migrating season."

"Makes sense." Blake hummed.

After retrieving their luggage, the girls left the docking bay and entered Patch. Not long after, several of the townsfolk began smiling and greeting the Rose-Xiao Long sisters, a few even running up to speak with them on occasion. Some of these turned out to be Ruby's classmates from Signal and wanted to know what life at Beacon was like. Weiss and Blake were also targets of conversation, with the occasional flirt thrown in, much to the heiress' ire. Thankfully, Blake managed to dissuade them under the guise of them being already spoken for.

The tour had been a rather short affair, as Yang wanted to save the local hot spots for tomorrow. Afterwards, Team RWBY made their way to the Rose-Xiao Long Family Home. As they trekked on the path leading to the house, Weiss looked at her partner in curiosity. "I don't believe I've asked this, but what are your parents like?"

"Dad's pretty cool." Ruby replied with a chirp. "He was Mom's partner back when they attended Beacon."

"Oh? What were they called?"

"Team STRQ."

Blake stopped in her tracks, eyes wide. "Wait, STRQ?" she asked. "I've heard that name before. A few of the older members mentioned them."

"That's cause our parents were friends with them." Yang snickered. "Dad and Uncle Qrow were drinking buddies with a couple guys named Nyx and Libertus."

"They know Captain Ulric and Lieutenant Ostium?" Blake asked with wide eyes.

Over the years, since their meeting with STRQ, some of the newer recruits in the Glaive had climbed the rankings. Nyx Ulric, also known as The Hero by his friends and comrades, became the captain of the Kingsglaive's Dagger unit while Libertus Ostium was his lieutenant. Blake was taught by the Captain of the mage unit, Crowe Altius, herself.

"Yeah. Dad said that they all met when Lucis first appeared in the World Crossing. They were chosen as Vale's representatives." Yang nodded. "I think Dad also sparred with another guy. I think his name was Luche?"

Before Blake could ask anything further, Ruby suddenly called out. "We're here!"

The group of four stood before a large, two-story log cabin with a red metal roof. There was a small garden right in front of the porch. "Welcome to the Xiao-Long/Rose Household, ladies." Yang gestured to their home.

"It looks nice." Blake nodded.

 _*Woof!*_

 _*KWEH!*_

The monochrome duo was startled by the sudden noises, as well as the dust cloud that was quickly approaching them. "What in the world is that?" Weiss asked, startled.

Blake, however, felt her body go rigid. "Is-is that a...?"

Abruptly, whatever was causing the dust cloud stopped just short in front of the four girls. The cloud passed over them, causing them to cough and wave their hands in front of their faces to blow away the dust cloud. When it cleared, they looked down to find two animals in front of them. A corgi and a Chocobo, to be exact. The dog had a slightly rotund body, coated in black and white fur with large round eyes that looked up at the girls innocently, panting with its tongue out. The Chocobo was as tall as Yang was, proudly bearing light yellow feathers and a curved orange beak with bright green eyes.

 _*Woof!*_

 _*KWEH!*_

"Hoh! Eins~! Zwei~!" Ruby cheered as she scooped up the adorable corgi in her hands while the Chocobo nuzzled under Yang's touch. "I missed you both so much!"

"It's so good to see you again." The brawler hugged the large bird lovingly.

"Are those...your pets?" Weiss asked, ignoring the fact that Blake took shelter behind her for some reason.

"Yep!" Ruby nodded vigorously. "Zwei's the younger one, though! We got him a couple years ago. Isn't he just the cutest?!"

"Ah! I thought I heard some familiar and adorable voices!"

All four girls and the two cheerful animals turned to the voice. Out from the side of the house was a middle aged man with blonde hair and blue eyes similar to yang. He had facial hair consisting of a soul patch and small stubble along his jawline. He wore a pair of brown cargo shorts with a dark brown belt, black shoes, a red bandana on his left arm, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off. On his right arm was a tattoo that resembled a heart. He also wore a metal spaulder, leather vambrace, and a brown fingerless glove, all on his right arm.

"Dad!" Both Ruby and Yang cheered as they rushed up to hug their father.

"It's good to see you girls again. I'm glad you called ahead instead of surprising me. I actually got the house all cleaned up before you got here!" He then looked up to see Weiss and Blake staring at them. "And I take it that these are your team mates?"

Weiss was the first to recover, bowing deeply. "It's a pleasure, mister Rose. I'm Weiss Schnee."

"Belladonna." Blake greeted, still hiding behind Weiss and glancing at Zwei warily, as if he might jump at her. "Blake Belladonna, sir."

"Introducing Team RWBY!" Ruby cheered. Zwei let out a bark, wiggling happily in her arms while Eins let out another squawk.

Taiyang laughed. "Well, it's nice to meet the upcoming second coming of the band of misfits me and my team were." he said with a grin. "My name is Taiyang Xiao Long, but please. Call me Taiyang."

Weiss tilted her head. "Not Rose?"

"That was Ruby's mother's surname." Taiyang explained before he gestured for them to come inside. "I assume you girls are all tired from your trip. Why not come in? I'll whip you up some cocoa."

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"Nora, you've asked that question, like, a hundred times already. The answer's still no!" Jaune exclaimed before doubling back over in nausea. They were still on the Bullhead and Jaune never overcame his motion sickness. It was something his family and teacher tried to help him with, but it never fully came to pass.

Now he was left to suffer in the air until they reached Lucis ground. Thankfully they were within the Kingdom's airspace, so it shouldn't be much longer.

...If only Nora would be patient like Ren and Pyrrha.

Not even ten minutes after they departed, she was constantly complaining about how long it was taking and bouncing around like a kid on a sugar rush. The last one, as it turned out, was partially Pyrrha's fault as she had forgotten to lock the pantry after she had just gotten done packing, thus allowing the hyperactive ginger to raid every snack inside, a few of which were laced with sugar. Add that to the soda she drank not long after they left for the docking bay, and she was practically uncontrollable.

He truly wished he had the patience of a saint, because if it weren't for his stomach churning every time the Bullhead moved in a way that threatened to have him spill his guts, he would have bopped her on the head by now.

So here he was, confined to his seat to prevent tossing his cookies while listening to his team mate prattle on and on.

...why couldn't the Bullhead move any faster?

Eventually, after several, painful minutes, the aircraft touched ground, much to his relief. "Oh, thank you god..." he muttered, giving thanks to whatever god or deity there was in the world as he made his way off the Bullhead with his team. Not two seconds after he left the Bullhead did he suddenly find himself tacked to the ground when something rammed into him at mach speed. "Oof!"

"It's good to see you again, Jaune!" Cheered a teenage girl around his age garbed in the Kingsglaive uniform consisting of black slacks, black frock coat, fingerless gloves, and knee high boots. But it was also customized with her emblem of a great shield wall on an armband. She had short, brown hair in a bob cut with a silver streak, and storm gray eyes. She had an athletic build and developing figure that was hidden well underneath the uniform, which being up close like this notified him of. He looked right into her bright smile as he pulled himself up.

"H-Hey, Zelda..." His brain paused for a moment, as if trying to understand what was going on, before the situation caught up to him. "Wait, Zelda?! What're you doing here?!"

"She's here because your sister told us you and your team were spending your break here." a rough voice called out, causing Jaune's eyes to widen. Not far away from the five teenagers was a man with short brown hair and a weary face, as if having fought battle after battle endlessly, yet a burning fire still lingered in his eyes. The lower half of his face was covered in a thin sheet of facial hair, only adding to his rugged appearance. He wore a simple black shirt with a high neck collar and faded gray jeans, complete with jet black boots that came up to the knees, marked in gold tailings and accents with silver highlights, predominantly around the heel. Over his hands were black gloves, and at his hip was a broad longsword, held safely within a leather sheathe. Seeing Jaune's startled expression, the man smiled. "It's been a while, my foolish student."

"T-Teacher!" Gently pushing Zelda off him, Jaune scrambled up to his feet and bowed deeply. "I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I was-I mean-!"

"At ease, son." The man waved his hand in a placating manner. "Knowing you, you probably wanted to surprise me...or you forgot...I'm guessing it was the latter."

"W-well, but...yes..." Jaune lowered his head.

"It's alright. I'm just glad to see you're well. I'm touched you chose to spend the break to visit me. Thank you, my boy." He then looked over to the group standing behind Jaune. "And you all must be the rest of the illustrious Team JNPR I've been hearing about. I am Commander Titus Drautos. It's a pleasure."

"It's nice to meet you." Pyrrha bowed. "My name is Pyrrha Nikos."

"I am Lie Ren." Ren bowed as well. "It's a pleasure."

"And I'm Nora!"

Zelda chuckled. "They're just as lively as we heard." she said before she bowed politely to the group. "My name is Zelda Drautos. I'm a trainee member of the Kingsglaive, and the Commander's daughter. It's nice to make your acquaintance."

"Well, now that we all got introductions out of the way, I'm sure you're all eager to see what Lucis has to offer."

Eagerly, Team JNPR followed after the man and his daughter, the blonde moreso with a hint of excitement. After all, it had been a while since the last time he had seen his teacher. And who knows what kind of adventure would be waiting for them here in Lucis?

...on second thought, he didn't want to know. Especially if Nora had a hand in it somehow in her sugar-rush state.

* * *

 _*CLANG CLANG*_

Steel blades locked against one another, sparks dancing between the eyes of two combatants as they were pushing themselves forward, only to be repelled by their own strength. The first to make a move was Ravus, who took to the air with his sword trailing behind him, his body already in motion. Noctis gritted his teeth as he braced himself, switching his Engine Blade for a simple, silver shield that was only as half as big as he was, spinning on his heel and clashing against Ravus' blade.

A shockwave followed a moment later. Noctis struggled to keep the shield up afterwards, but was soon pushed away as Ravus kicked his shield and knocked him back, tumbling somewhat before he got back up on his feet. Without waiting for Noctis to recover, the Prince of Niflheim charged at him and went in for a stab. The shield vanished, and in its place were twin daggers that intercepted Ravus' slash.

"Not bad, Noct." Ravus grunted before he headbutted Noctis, causing him to yelp and recoil, leaving him open for a arrow kick to the abdomen, followed by a roundhouse. "But not good enough!" Flipping his sword into a reverse grip, Ravus went for the kill, leering down at the Prince of Lucis before he brought his sword down, only to find it blocked by a large broadsword.

Roaring, Noctis threw Ravus off him and leaped back up to his feet. "Then how about _this_?!" Pushing his muscles, Noctis threw his broadsword at Ravus. The latter, realizing what was coming, chose to instead knock it away and fall into a defensive stance. Just in time, as Noctis Warped over to him, switching his giant blade in favor of a spear and came down for an overhead strike.

Ravus intercepted it with his sword and used the momentum to throw the crown prince away. Noctis changed for his engine blade and threw it mid air for a warp strike. Deftly, the white-clad warrior pulled his body back, letting the Engine Blade fly right over him and impale itself into the ground. A second later, Noctis appeared and used the momentum to swing around on the handle, going in for a kick. Ravus blocked it with ease, and pulled Noctis in before delivering a brutal punch straight to his face, knocking him back down to the floor and away from his sword.

While he was down, Ravus lunged in for a stab that Noctis rolled away from. He summoned his sword back in hand and swung only to meet the edge of his opponent's blade. The two were repelled, but were quick to strike at one another again. Each time their blades met, sparks flew. In moments, the room became nothing but a ballroom and the two men were but mere followers to their blades, dancing across the room for dominance.

However, in spite of all the skills Noctis had in his repertoire, all stemming from innate combat ability and his vast arsenal, it was experience that won.

The Engine Blade was knocked out of his hand, sent flying across the room. Before he had a chance to register what had just happened, Noctis found himself thrown back to the ground, a boot pinning him to the floor and a blade aimed at his neck. Looking up, he found Ravus standing over him with sharpened eyes, gazing on him like a hawk.

"...you were sloppy with every other weapon aside from that sword of yours." he said in a curt, short and clipped tone as he removed the sword from Noctis' neck and sheathed it back into its scabbard, removing his foot from Noctis. The prince stayed on the floor, utterly dazed and thrown for a loop while he processed how in the world he could have lost. "You have gotten better, but you still rely too much on your father's heirloom. And don't even get me started on your constant warping around the room. It makes you _terribly_ predictable."

"Damn, you are harsh..." Noctis groaned, hanging his head low. He then saw Ravus offering him a hand, a small grin on the man's face before he chuckled and took the hand into his own, pulling himself up. "I can't tell who's worse. You, or Cor."

* * *

 _New Tenebrae._

 _A territory held by Sylvia Nox Fleuret, following the events of the World Crossing. Following her contribution in providing the Lucians a proud safe haven from this world, Regis willingly gave the Nox Fleuret family a holding in the Duscae region. It paled in comparison to the grandeur of the true kingdom of Tenebrae in Eos, but it was still a charitable thought the man had for her. Not wanting to spit on the humble offering, she accepted the holdings. Thus, the Kingdom of Lucis was also home to a smaller kingdom, though more or less honorary._

 _The Nox Fleuret Palace was a citadel of pristine white, crafted from white stone and carved with elegance, reminiscent to a church or temple. On either side were twin towers, each bearing a flag: to the left was the flag of Lucis, and to the right the flag of Tenebrae. Those who had taken refuge in the territory, in opposite to the Lucians, wore white clothing with hoods drawn over their heads. Unlike the prejudicial organization known as the White Hoods, the articles of clothing were more for religious purposes, as the territory also served as a place of worship. Thus, it was almost always open to the public._

 _Due to the grand structure of the palace, it housed various places. The central area was a vast courtyard, lined with various different busts, some belonging to Remnant cultures and others from Eos. The courtyard also served as a center point, as it stood over a vast body of water that connected to different segments of the palace. Inside these segments were chambers, each containing a effigy, similar to the Astrals. The only one that was not within a chamber of worship was the Draconian Astral, Bahamut, for he stood proudly in the courtyard, wings of blades spread out proudly while his favored sword was held firmly in hand, resting firmly in the earth._

 _It was a beautiful sight, and that was to say nothing of the people who entered and exited the palace halls, be they civilian or staff worker. There were Kingsglaive present, acting as guards alongside the palace soldiers, but the people were of both human and Faunus races, the latter of which openly allowed their true selves to be presented without a hint of fear. One would be quite hard pressed to find such peace and tranquility anywhere else in Remnant, especially when humans and Faunus were truly living together in equality, if only in such a peaceful place. If such a thing were possible, the kingdom of New Tenebrae was far more popular in terms of Human-Faunus relationships._

 _It was all to due to Sylvia Nox Fleuret's kindness and open mind. Like Regis, she did not hold a prejudicial stance toward Faunus and accepted them with open arms, treating them as equals with humans. And like King Regis, the Faunus greatly admired and respected the Oracle for giving them the opportunity for a better lifestyle._

 _It was just another picture that painted on how much of a difference they had made in these past 20 years here in Remnant._

* * *

After their session had finished, Ravus and Noctis had left the room, no worse for wear, if perhaps a bit tired, as they walked down the halls of the Nox Fleuret palace. "Still, I must admit, this was a rather pleasant surprise." Ravus commented as they walked. "I wasn't expecting to see you or your friends, at least until the Vytal Festival."

"We were originally planning on a road trip through Duscae, but since the break is only for a few days, we figured we'd see how things were doing over here." Noctis answered before a concerned look appeared over his face. "How's Lady Sylvia doing?"

"Better, thankfully." Ravus sighed softly with relief. "It seems the after effects of the World Crossing have finally passed." There was a short pause before Ravus took a glance at Noctis. "Though I don't suppose you aren't only worried about her health."

"Dad told you the news, then."

"He has." the man spoke grimly. "Though Mother has aged, her power as Oracle has not faded in the least. Add that to Luna's own abilities, and the idea that the Daemons would be appearing outside Lucis is foolish."

"Yeah. It was a surprise for us too. Especially when that Devil guy commanded it like some sort of pet. My dad told me that not even the Empire held that form of control over Daemon's back in Eos."

"Indeed. It's quite concerning. What more, if the reports are completely accurate, it's a new breed of Daemon never before seen. What's even more disturbing is how human-like it appeared..."

Ravus trailing off there left them both disturbed, especially by the implications. Thankfully for the both of them before they could go further into the topic, a voice called out to Noctis from behind. "Noctis!"

Both men turned around, coming face to face with the youngest child of the Nox Fleuret family. She was the splitting image of a younger Lunafreya. Her blonde hair fell freely mid back with sideswept bangs while her pale blue eyes shone in excitement. She was dressed in a black top with a white sleeveless bolero, long black skirt, and knee length socks.

"Hey, Stella." Noctis greeted as she ran up to them.

"You should have told me you were coming!" Stella said with a pout as she stomped at the ground. "I would have grabbed Luna from that dumb meeting and meet you guys!"

"Meeting?"

Ravus sighed, shaking his head. "Despite our insistence on the matter, mother feels that she is growing too old to remain as Oracle. So she called a meeting with members of the council to discuss whether or not her oldest daughter would be suited."

"Wait, she wants Luna to be the new Oracle?" Noctis couldn't hide his shock. The position of Oracle was, for a lack of better words, important. Not just to the Nox Fleuret family, but to Eos and by extension Lucis, even after the World Crossing had passed. To some, it was a religious position, regarded as the highest honor for being the one to commune with the Astrals and convey their wishes. To others, it was a symbol of prosperity. To say that it was important would be an understatement, but it also came with great responsibility. "Is-is Luna okay with this?"

Stella shook her head at Noctis, as if disappointed with his answer as she wagged a finger at him. "C'mon, Noctis. You know that big sis would accept that position in a heartbeat if it meant she could help people."

"She's just as kind-hearted as mother in that regard." Ravus smiled thinly. "That being said, I am a bit against it. Luna's still young. And mother is far from senile. She has plenty of time to live out her life as Oracle yet."

"So does that mean that things are just rushing a bit?"

"No. I. Sure mother is perfectly aware of what she's doing." Ravus shook his head. "But you know how she can be. As stubborn as a Behemoth, that one."

"Careful, brother." Stella chided gently. "If mother hears you, she'd whack you on the head." She then turned back to Noctis with a grin. "So, how long are you going to be in New Tene, Noctis?"

"A few days, since we're here on break." Noctis answered. "Let me guess, you want to hear about Beacon?"

"Yes, please." She nodded. "I wanna hear how your semester went."

"That reminds me," Ravus said suddenly. "Have you decided what Academy you want to apply to next year?"

Really, he shouldn't have felt the need to ask that, since Noctis was sure he already knew the answer, especially when Stella gave Noctis a glance and smiled widely, revealing her pearly whites. He sighed in his head, wondering what kind of complications this could do to him in the future. He didn't want to hurt Stella's feelings.

 _'What a drag...'_

* * *

The Rose-Xiao Long home was quite lovely, in spite of what Weiss' upbringing said otherwise. In fact, if you were to ask the heiress which she would have preferred, she would say without hesitation that she'd choose a place like this. Unlike her Home back in Atlas, while this place was quite smaller, it was much warmer and exuded the feeling of what a home should be like.

It reminded her of how home used to be, when Blanc was still in her life.

That being said, she wished Ruby and Yang could be a bit more quiet. "No fair!" her partner cried out in dismay, watching as the character had been playing was promptly defeated. "Darn it! You know how much I hate it when you keep spamming that move!"

"All's fair in love and war, little sis~" Yang smirked, revelling her victory while Ruby pouted and folded her arms, looking away from her in mock anger. Giggling, the blonde brawler looked over her shoulder and at Weiss, who was doing her best to ignore them. "Hey, Weiss Cream! Stop reading and play with us!"

"I'm fine where I am. Plus, I'm just getting to the climax of the story. You can keep playing without me, but can you please be a bit quieter?"

"Nope, nuh-uh. We're on break. So take a break from reading and have some fun for a change." Yang got up and promptly dragged her team mate over in front of the screen.

"H-hey!"

"Come on, it's just for a little while!" the brute insisted, still smiling. "You can read your book later! You know what they say~ All work and no play makes Weissy a dull girl!"

Weiss scowled as she attempted to escape, but found that Yang's grip was firm. Seething, she sighed in reluctance and softly shut her book and set it down before she grabbed Yang's scroll. "So, how does this work exactly?"

"It's easy! First, you..."

As Yang instructed Weiss how to play, Blake was looking around the lovely home with a hint of curiosity. It had been her first time in someone else's home, so she wasn't sure what to make of it. It certainly felt cozy, and the family itself was quite welcoming if Yang and Ruby were of any indication. Much to her pleasant surprise, there was even a bookshelf filled with books for her to read in her spare time, which Weiss had broken into earlier today before Yang rudely pulled her away. To some of her disappointment, Taiyang didn't own the Ninjas of Love books, though she understood why. Especially since he had Ruby in the house. As her eyes roamed across the room, she eventually found a photograph sitting atop the mantle on the fireplace, just behind the couch.

It was framed and well-cared for, showing four people, two of which looked like slightly older, more mature versions of Ruby and Yang. The woman who looked like Ruby, obviously her mother, had the same exact same features, complete with a smile, though instead of a red cloak she wore a pure white one and a simple black skirt. Next to her was the black-haired version of Yang, who wore a black dress shirt that exposed quite a bit of cleavage and tight jeans, arms crossed and looking away from the camera with a noticable blush and scowl. To to the girls were two men, one of which she identified as a younger Taiyang Xiao Long, who was grinning while having an arm draped around the second male, who struggled to get out of his grip. The second male had messy black hair and red eyes, features similar to the black-haired woman next to Taiyang, and wore a gray shirt and black jeans.

Going by the people in the photo, she already knew who these people were. "Team STRQ." Taiyang said as he approached her. She had already heard him coming, thanks to her extra set of ears. "Led by Ruby's mother, the optimistic and charismatic Summer Rose."

"She's beautiful." Blake noted. "Captain Ulrich told me stories about her. The Hunters in Duscae even gave her a colorful nickname: the White Reaper."

"She certainly fit the part." the blonde man said with a smile of reminisce and sadness. "Those really were the best days."

"If you don't mind me asking, who're the other two?"

"Qrow and Raven Branwen." Taiyang said. "Qrow and I were partners, and Raven was partnered with Summer." Blake handed him back the photograph, which he stared at with a sad smile on his face before he set it back on the fireplace's mantle. "These days, you can find that idiot hanging around a bar or working his ass off on a mission somewhere. He usually swings by, but it's mostly for a few short days. And Raven is Yang's mother." Seeing Blake's surprised look, he explained. "Ruby and Yang are half-sisters, if it wasn't obvious. Summer was Ruby's mother, and Raven was Yang's."

"I-I see..." Shaking her head, she looked back at the sisters and Weiss before she looked back at Taiyang. "If it's okay to ask...what happened to...?"

The man sighed deeply. "Summer went on a mission and...never came back." he said, voice cracking almost. "The only thing we found was her cloak, tattered and torn, and her weapon, broken beyond repair. And Raven, she...just disappeared one day."

"Oh...I'm sorry..." Blake apologized. She couldn't honk of anything else to say. Taiyang has lost not one, but two loves of his life in what seemed to be the span of a few years.

"It's alright." He shook his head. "It was a long time ago. And like Summer used to say, even though someone may be gone, as long as you remember the good times, they will remain immortal."

"...that sounds beautiful."

"It is."

After a period of uncomfortable silence, Yang suddenly cried out in dismay. "The hell?!" she said in disbelief after seeing her character get mopped up like trash before she leveled a glare at Weiss. "Okay, the first time is you getting lucky. The second time is just suspicious. But _three times_?!"

"I can assure you, Xiao Long, this is my first time playing a video game." Weiss replied curtly. She had honestly never played video games in her life. The only games she played were hide and seek with Blanc, Whitley and Winter when they were younger. However, she would say this at least, "I must say, though. It's quite the excellent stress reliever. I should do this more often." She looked back at Yang and gave a cold grin. "Perhaps we should go another round, if you're so adamant?"

"Urk...!"

"No fair!" Ruby protested. "I want to play against Weiss this time! That's an order as Team Leader!"

"Fine. Go ahead. 'maybe our leader can take down the Ice Queen." Yang tossed the controller over to her sister who caught it and sat down next to her partner. "Kick her ass, sis!"

"You got it! Also, swear!"

* * *

Team JNPR, courtesy of Drautos and his daughter, had been given a grand tour of Insomnia. It was a breath taking sight for them, with the stories about its beauty failing to give due justice. The wildlife was unlike anything they saw before, and the view of the ocean from the highways was breathtaking. And that was only during their trip to the Crown City.

Beautiful couldn't even begin to describe it. They were amazed when they saw the Wall surrounding the city, with gargantuan statues of previous Lucian Kings embedded within.

Ren, Nora and Pyrrha were all scarcely able to believe that such sights existed. Mistral was beautiful in its own little way, but Lucis had put it all to shame. Drautos had shown them famous landmarks and even drove them into view of the Lucian Palace before taking them out to lunch when it became clear that Nora had more or less devoured most of their rations during the ride on the Bullhead.

The man found himself very thankful for the large salary he received every month, for Nora's gluttonous appetite had made itself known to him, no sooner after he had brought them to his favorite restaurant. Zelda summed up his thoughts in a dazed manner, as if she clearly couldn't believe what she was seeing. "That was your sixth plate of steak!" she cried. "How the hell can you have room for more?!"

"Don't underestimate Nora." Jaune said in a sage-like manner. "We're just glad that Beacon already provides expenses for food for us, otherwise we'd have been flat broke in a few months."

"Nora." Ren chided the girl. "Eat slowly. And for heaven's sake, don't talk with your mouth full!"

The ginger nodded as she swallowed a mouthful of meat. "Yes, Ren." She then went back to gorging herself in her meal.

"Hehe...you have quite a group for your team, Jaune." Titus said to his student.

"Yeah...and I have more friends back at Beacon. Like Team RWBY. As well as Prince Noctis and his crew."

"Speaking of the Prince? How has he been doing? Not into trouble I hope. Well, aside from the incident at the docks."

"So you heard about that?" Jaune cringed. When the gang told him and his team about it, he could hardly believe it. Daemon's outside of Lucis?

Drautos grimaced. "I would be a fool not to have heard it, considering my job. And quite frankly, it's worrying. We already have enough problems with those bizarre Grimm giving the Feds ammunition to fire at us. The last thing we need is for Daemons to start appearing."

"I don't really see a problem." Zelda said, taking a bite out of her french fry. "The Anti-Lucian Federation is just a group of idiots that haven't moved on or are just scared. So what if they've got more reasons to hate Lucians?"

"I think the real point is the idea of Daemons terrorizing Remnant completely." Pyrrha threw in her two cents. "The Kingsglaive have grown in number and now have stations all across the four Kingdoms. Even the Hunters Association has increased in staff size and personnel. But Huntsmen and Huntresses haven't been given the training, nor the equipment, to fight monsters like the Daemons, if the stories are to be believed."

"That's right." Titus nodded. "While Huntsmen and Huntresses are capable of holding their own against monsters, Daemon's are in a league of their own. They are far more durable and tenacious and any other type of Monster in existence. And while some can compare them to Grimm, they are much more dangerous."

"How so?"

"Let me ask you this." Titus said, voice cold. "Have you ever encountered a Grimm that was capable of breathing fire? Spawn smaller creatures and cover its body in electricity? Become little more than a walking bomb meant to incinerate or freeze anything it touches? Or wield a sword so expertly it could cleave a dozen men in half before you even realized what had happened?" The rest of Team JNPR paled once the words set in. Even Nora stopped eating, letting what's left of her steal fall on her plate. "While the Grimm may be dangerous, they generally behave like mindless beasts. While the same could be said for Daemons, they are capable of much more lethal actions. While Huntsmen are trained to slay beasts, they are not completely prepared to take on these creatures of the night. Even though they may have semblances, their fighting styles may be specialized. While it could be effective against one type of enemy, it will leave them vulnerable against a different foe."

"To put it simply," Zelda finished. "If the Daemons started to appear outside Lucis' borders, then Remnant is screwed. The only reason they haven't been able to do that is thanks to Queen Sylvia of New Tenebrae and her daughter Lunafreya, but it's only a matter of time before Queen Sylvia's power wanes. When that happens, the Daemons can and will start appearing in greater number across Remnant."

"B-but the Headmaster and King Regis have been trying to prepare for that kind of thing, haven't they?" Jaune asked weakly. "I mean, that's why Glaives are sent to settlements and cities to protect them, and why they're outfitted with those light systems to drive off off the Daemons in case they appear, right?"

"Perhaps." the man conceded. "But there will be lives lost. That is a fact." A tense moment of silence passed between the group of six. Seeing this, Titus sighed and took a drink from his mug before he cleared his throat. An atmosphere like this was just depressing. He needed to clear this up, otherwise the food would be lest savory. "Enough about that for now. So, tell me. Which of you ladies is Jaune's girlfriend?"

The effect was instantaneous as it was hilarious. Jaune spluttered, staring at Titus as if he had just been replaced. Pyrrha blushed atomic red and turned away, scooting away from Jaune for some reason. Ren blinked owlishly, clearly not expecting that question. Nora was unfazed. "I'm curious to know that as well." Zelda grinned. "Which one of you two managed to get this big lug?"

"W-what?! Zelda, what're you saying?!"

"Pyrrha is!" Nora cried exubiantly, much to the dismay of the aforementioned teens. "At least I want them to be! Me and Renny have been trying to get these two to hook up since the first day!"

"N-Nora!" Pyrrha cried in embarrassment. When she saw the Cheshire-like smile forming on Zelda's face and the curious look from Titus, she panicked. "N-no, it's not what you think! I-I think of Jaune as a friend! Yes, that's it! I mean sure, he's very sweet and he has excellent abdomenal muscles, but-but that is entirely beside...the...point..."

"Y-Yeah! I like Pyrrha...wait, I mean as a friend like, not like-like like how Nora claims she and Ren aren't together-together! She's really nice and smart, and really helps me train. And we also hit it off during Initiation, and she even gave me a few pointers on my form! And...she's also pretty but...and..." At this point, Jaune was just a babbling mess who didn't even realize what he was saying.

"...I think you two broke them..." Ren commented as he took a sip of his tea. Who knew a simple question could turn his team leader and his partner into a bumbling wreck?

Nora and Zelda grinned, unaware that a friendship had bloomed between the two of them. Titus, on the other hand, merely grunted in amusement as he took another drink. 'What interesting friends you have, Your Highness.'

* * *

Night had descended on New Tenebrae, and the even festivities were already underway. As luck would have it, Noctis and party had arrived in team for the monthly Night Blessing. It was more or less a small gathering for those who had begun to follow the Astral faith, filling out the courtyard. As a result, the grounds were lit up like a Christmas tree, with each follower holding a lit candle.

The prince had watched the sight from a balcony, sitting on top of the only thing keeping him from falling off in the first place. The sky was beautiful, marked with so many stars that he could hardly count them all. Not only that, but the broken moon that he had been born and raised under had never looked so breathtaking before. Idly, he stretched out a hand, as if attempting to reach out for the moon. So close, yet so far away.

"I wonder, did Eos have this kind of night sky?" Noctis asked himself. Having been born in Remnant, he never knew what Eos was like, only told stories of it. He knew that the whole reason Lucis came to Remnant was to escape Niflheim's grasp. He always wondered what sort of world Eos was like, but he never had the chance to ask his father, since they were always so busy with their own respective duties. He would have asked other people, like the Glaives, but he felt that his father had much more to tell him. "More importantly, was its moon intact?"

"Oh yes, it was." a familiar cool voice called out to him. "Mother was quite startled to learn that the moon here in Remnant was broken." Turning around, Noctis found his breath stolen away. There, standing at the door leading to the balcony, was Lunafreya, wearing the most beautiful and elegant white dress he had ever seen. She met his eyes, and smiled gently. "It's been a long time since the last time we saw each other, Noctis."

"It has. It's good to see you again, Luna." Noctis got off from the railing and walked toward his closest friend and fiancee. They both hugged one another for several moments.

"You have grown. I remember that the last time we met, I was taller than you. Now it's almost the opposite." She giggled. "Though I see your hair is as messy as always."

"Hey, I happen to like this style." He countered in good humor. "And I see your hairstyle's changed. It looks good on you."

"Thank you. Stella helped choose it for me." Luna informed him before she advanced further into the balcony, stopping short of the railing and looking up at the starry night sky. "I can only vaguely remember what Eos' sky used to look like. I can't tell you which sky looks more beautiful, our old world's or Remnant's." She soon giggled as a thought came to mind. "Though I also remember how cloudy some days were. Ramuh must've been rather grumpy those days."

"The Astrals came with us when we came to Remnant?"

Luna nodded. "The Crystal, the Ring of the Lucii and the Trident were all gifts bestowed to us by the Astrals. The first of which is the core of all the power given to us. When mother and King Regis attempted to transport Lucis to Remnant with the Crystal's power, the Draconian sensed it."

"So, the only reason we were allowed to go was because of Bahamut?" Noctis asked, frowning.

The woman shook her head. "It still would have been possible, had the Draconian refused to allow it. However, it would have also resulted in the Crystal's destruction, due to the strain. And I need not tell you the ramifications if that were to happen."

Noctis shook his head. No she didn't. If the Crystal had been destroyed, then the contract between the Lucian line and the Astrals would be null and void. The Lucians would not longer possess the power to use magic. The Ring of the Lucii would be destroyed. But above all, the world will lose its light and become susceptible to the Daemon plague. It was most likely due to these consequences that Bahamut allowed the World Crossing to happen. What surprised him though was that all of the Astrals followed them. But then he realized that it may be due to the Crystal as well.

That brought an interesting idea to mind. "Will I ever get to see an Astral in person?"

"Perhaps." the blonde woman replied mysteriously. "King Regis holds a contract with the Archaean, the Fulgarian and the Draconian. That said, I doubt he will come to call upon their power. Not unless the world faces a dire threat."

"I see. Well, given how peaceful the world is now, I would doubt that something like that will happen. However, after that incident at the Vale docks, I'm not so sure anymore."

"You're referring to the Daemon, yes?"

"Yeah. It wasn't like anything in the Bestiary. It was fast like an Imp, yet hit hard like an Iron Giant. It's bite could turn flesh necrotic, and to top it all off...it looked too human."

Lunafreya frowned heavily. "I've heard of its description from mother. You fought it first hand, yes?"

"Yeah. The strangest part is...it was following orders from that horned freak in the mask." Noctis folded his arms, leaning against the railing. "Apparently, everyone calls him Devil. Sienna Khan's lieutenant."

"I see. That is concerning. However, I have met with the White Fang High Leader before, and she did not seem the type to employ such brutality that Devil's actions signify."

"Gladio said the same thing. It only makes this even more suspicious. Was Devil acting independent of the Fang? If so, then how did he get his hands on a Daemon like that? Something is going on...and I don't like it, Luna."

"I understand, Noctis. But unfortunately, the only thing you can do now is simply wait. And hope for the best." It wasn't an answer he was happy with, but he didn't have a choice. Seeing his irritation, Lunafreya smiled again, turning towards him fully. "But enough of that! Tell me, what's Beacon like?"

"Rowdy." Noctis answered with a wry grin. "If a little boring at times. Ruby got in two years ahead because she stopped Torchwick."

"I remember seeing it on the news report. She's grown so much since we last saw her."

"Yeah, she has."

"And what about your friends?"

He groaned. "Well, they like to nag at me for one. Don't misunderstand, they're all still pretty awesome and we have each other's backs, but they really do like taking part in this whole Pick on the Prince Day thing. They even started joking that we should get married."

Luna blushed. The image such an idea presented was not an unpleasant one. In fact, she dared to say that Noctis would like outright splendid in a suit, despite his vehement hatred for such stiff articles of clothing. "Well, I cannot I say I am adhersed to the idea." she said off-handedly, regaining her smile. Noctis's jaw turned slack, face red before he beamed, opening his mouth. Before he could utter a word, she pressed a finger to his lips. "But first, you should focus on your schooling."

 _'...did-did Luna just tease me?'_ Noctis thought, his mind shorting out for a second. She must've been hanging around Stella for too long. But on the off chance she wasn't, then-! _'Calm down, Noct. Marriage is a long ways off for you!'_ But he couldn't get it out of his head. The thought of them standing at an altar, Luna in a pure white wedding dress and he in one of those damned suits, was enough to send his heart racing. _'God dammit. Being a teenager is horrible.'_

And he didn't even want to imagine what life would be like if the others found out about this little daydream. A flash occurred behind them, followed by a snapping sound. Looking behind them, the two found Prompto standing in the doorway, holding up his camera. "I gotta say, that was a picture perfect scene." he said with a grin, waving at them. "Though I wish there was like a sunrise or something. Would've been a hell of a lot better!"

"Prompto?" Noctis asked, surprised. "How long have you been there?"

"Just got here, though I did hear something about a wedding." the blonde answered with a grin. "So, uh, when's you two getting hitched?"

"Oh, not this again!"

Luna couldn't help but laugh. "If there is ever a wedding, Promptp, I can assure you, you will be the first to know."

"Thank you very much, Luna!" Prompto smiled. "So...I take I'll be the best man?"

"If I say yes, will you please drop it?"

"Maybe~ Oh, by the way, is Pryna around? I haven't seen her for a while." The sharpshooter asked Luna.

"She should be. I'm sure she would be overjoyed to see you again."

The rest of the night was quite pleasant for Team LAPI once they reconvened, now in the company of the Nox Fleuret family.

* * *

The room was completely dark, only lit by the shining light of the moon. Ardyn had to admit, he found the shattered moon this world possessed to be quite beautiful indeed. There was a certain beauty to it that he had never seen, not once in the many long years in his tenure in Eos. The night sky was equally as beautiful, though it was somewhat tarnished by the bright lights of the city down below.

"Truly, Remnant is a world beyond compare." the man remarked with a hint of fondness as he lounged in his chair, staring out the window that was erected behind his desk. "A shame Salem wants to ruin it so much. It's quite beautiful."

Even if the Astrals were messing with it.

A knock came to at the door, causing him to turn around. "You can enter." he called. The door opened, revealing a man dressed in a pale blue suit with a dark blue dress shirt underneath, complete with a red bowtie. His hair was frost white, swept back with a sharp mustache covering the upper half of his face. "Ah! Jacques Schnee, just the man I wanted to see. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to accept my invitation at this late hour."

"Well, I can hardly ignore a summons from the High Councilman." the CEO of the Schnee Dust Corporation replied with no small amount of confidence nor smugness. "Especially when you claim to have a business offer."

Ardyn chuckled as he pulled open one of his drawers as Jacques sat down, taking out a vanilla folder and setting down on the desk. Inside that folder were several documents containing list after list of materials and blueprints for what Jacques could only dream of seeing. He had made it quite clear that he intended to invest in other business ventures, but only after his monopoly had garnered further funds for his use. This, however, would greatly accelerate his plans.

And unfortunately for the world of Remnant, it would be Jacques Schnee's second greatest mistake, for the file's name was written in clear bold letters at the front:

 **[PROJECT MAGITEK]**

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 _ **Chapter: END**_

* * *

 **Next Time: Second Encounters**

* * *

 **Starlight's Poet** : Fun fact, the name "Zelda" in German means, "gray battle" or "Christian battle." Also, this chapter is dedicated to the _lovely_ fellow who apparently out of their way to make a TV Tropes page for this story, so big shout outs to them for going the extra mile! If you are reading this, we are happy to know you loved this story so much to do that and we sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note**

 **Starlight's Poet: Friendly reminder to you all! "Of Crystal Shards and Dust" now has a TV Tropes page! Feel free to check it out, edit and add to it! We're really happy to see that this story has become so freaking popular, especially now that we've passed the 200 review mark!**

 **Also, we've decided that this story will only cover Volumes 1-3. It will receive a sequel that will cover Volume 4 and beyond. Just a heads up!**

 **With that in mind, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the third act of this beautiful saga! Please enjoy!**

* * *

 **A Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:** **  
** _ **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**_

* * *

 _Flames._

 _That was the only thing that Noctis could see. A wall of flames, so fierce and ferocious and unbearable that he could feel sweat already starting to pour down his skin. Embers blew in his face, causing him to flinch. The source behind these flames stood idle, seated upon its hellish throne while gazing upon them with an empty gaze. There was no emotion behind it. All the Prince saw was a mere puppet, acting in accordance to its master._

 _Yet he would not falter for even a moment. A silver sword, elegant and as long as his leg, formed from blue particles and into his hand before he charged forward, Gladio rushing in behind him. Prompto and Yang were off to the side, providing cover fire. Concussion blasts and a heavy storm of bullets all came down on the owner of these flames._

 _It was hardly affected, as the flames quickly burned away the projectiles before it raised its hand, sending out a heavy tidal wave of fire. Gladio quickly dived out of the way and Noctis threw his sword to the side, quickly evading and sliding to his feet. He only just stood on his feet in time when he saw another burst of flame heading right for him. He braced himself, but something quickly came to his side. A dash of red consumed him, becoming a streak of red and black intertwined together._

 _It was disorienting for Noctis, feeling his body being pulled back together in a way far different than when he warped. "You okay?!" Ruby asked him. He nodded in gratitude before he looked up, finding the flames suddenly gathering in the demonic entity's hand. It writhed and thrashed in its grasp, growing intense with each second. "Get down!"_

 _Everyone immediately sought refuge, hiding behind cover. In the next second, the world was consumed by hellfire. Dark red flames burned away at everything, scorching the ground and even the platform they stood on. It lasted for only a few seconds, yet the impact was enough to make Noctis unbearably uncomfortable in his suit. When the flames died, everyone pulled themselves out of cover._

 _"We gotta put out the flames!" Blake cried._

 _Weiss twirled her rapier, icy blue eyes narrowed right at the burning figure. "Leave that to me!" she said as glyphs danced behind her._

 _Not wanting to leave them do all the work for him, Noctis' eyes burned as power flooded his system. An array of weapons - all crystalline in form and radiating authority - danced around him._

 _"Everyone!" the Chosen King roared. "Let's go!"_

* * *

 **Chapter XI: Second Encounters**

* * *

"...oct? Yo, Noct! Wake up!"

Noctis groaned as his eyes fluttered open, finding Prompto staring at him. "What is it...?" he asked tiredly as he pulled himself up, rubbing his eyes. "Are we back at Beacon yet?"

"Almost." Ignis told him. "You fell asleep shortly after we got on board the Bullhead. Did you not sleep well last night?"

"I...probably not..." Noctis shook his head. He tried to recall what he was dreaming about, but like all dreams, the details fled from memory.

It had been a few days since the start of their vacation in New Tenebrae, now they had a day left of the break before the following semester at Beacon started. They said their farewells to the Nox Fleuret family and left for Vale once more. Stella looked quite sad that he was leaving, nearly throwing a fit if it weren't for Ravus. In order to placate her, Noctis promised he'd message her every now and then. It worked wonders, and the girl cheered up immediately. Luna asked him to tell her some stories the next time he came for a visit, as she hadn't heard much of his exploits aside from the incident at the docks.

The trip was mostly a quiet one, though everyone managed to keep themselves busy. Prompto was busy scrolling through pictures he had taken while they were at the party the Nox Fleuret family had been throwing for a friend's birthday while Gladio was busy reading on his Scroll. Ignis had mostly been doing the same thing, except what he was reading was anyone's guess.

The last day would be spent at Beacon, with everyone getting back into the groove for when the next semester started. When they entered the Bullhead, Noctis had received a message from Ruby saying that she and her team were also on their way back, having spent the break at their hometown in Patch. There were even a few photos to document the event as well, the most hilarious being the pillow fight that Yang had instigated by throwing a pillow at Weiss, who then kindly reciprocated by tossing what appeared to be a dog at her. A dog that was smiling, at that.

He'd really have to ask about that one.

"Well, rise and shine, buttercup." Gladio huffed. "School'll be back in session. You can dream about sucking face with Lunafreya later."

"Oh, for God's sake..." Noctis groaned as he dragged a hand down his face. At his side, Prompto stifled a laugh. "Can we maybe not pick on me today? I'm still trying to wake up."

"I'm glad that Luna was doing okay." Prompto said with a smile, looking at his childhood friend. "Seems like New Tenebrae is doing okay, too! I'm kind of surprised by how many people have moved there already."

"It isn't all that surprising, especially since it's recently become a place of religion." Ignis said, adjusting his glasses. "Though I will admit, it was a surprise to see how many people from the other Kingdoms decided to become members of the church, so to speak. If I recall, any religion that used to be prominent on Remnant have long since lost influence around the time of the Great War. Much history was lost after that particular event."

"And it's also the reason why everyone is naming themselves after colors." Gladio chuckled. "The things war'll do to ya. On the other hand, it's also the reason why we've got the Vytal Festival. I'm definitely looking forward to that. How about you, Noct?"

The prince smiled somewhat. "Eh, we'd have to see the competition first. We might be students of Beacon Academy, but we're still Lucians first and foremost. I imagine students that are also part of the Cultural Exchange Program are in the same boat."

Indeed. There are many who wish to see the prowess of Lucian fighters during the festival. To see how they compare to the new Kingdom.

"Well, as far as we know, there's that one team from Atlas. Gawain and team GLAE, right?" Prompto questioned.

"That's right." Ignis nodded. "And if his skill at the docks was of any indication, they may prove to be worthy adversaries."

"Yeah. And that wasn't even him at his best. He did say that he had fought off the White Fang for about an hour before we showed up." Gladio reminded. "And we haven't seen anything about the other guys on his team. What do you suppose they're like?"

Ignis hummed, cupping his chin. "Hard to say. But they were all handpicked by the High Councilman of Atlas himself."

"Ardyn Izunia..." Noctis whispered the name. Strangely, he felt a brief flash of pain in his head, but it subsided quicker than it appeared. "Dad said he was an Advisor to Niflheim back in Eos, right? How did he get here?"

"I can't say. Perhaps he was in Lucis when the World Crossing happened for whatever reason. Regardless, I feel we should withhold judgment of the man until we've met him personally. You can't simply judge someone by reputation alone."

"Maybe..." the prince shrugged. He still felt a bit uneasy. Like there was something nagging in the back of his head. "I hope we get back to Beacon soon."

* * *

The Bullhead landed on the platform with a small thud as its doors opened. "Aah, freedom at last!" Ruby cheered as she stepped out, taking a big gulp of fresh air. "I was starting to get bored!"

"We can tell. You were practically bouncing off the walls back in the Bullhead." Weiss commented as she rolled her luggage out. "Which is amazing, considering you were chipper all morning too. Just how do you have so much energy?"

"Ten bucks says she had strawberry juice before we left." Yang chimed, her douffelbag strapped on her shoulder. "Besides cookies, they're her trademark foodstuff. So, still missing Zwei, Ice Queen?"

To say that Weiss had taken an immediate liking to Zwei was an understatement. The girl practically doted and spoiled the corgi something rotten. Likewise, Blake had formed something of a bond with Eins, though Yang was quick to joke that she wanted the Chocobo for dinner. The two sisters were happy to see their respective teammates getting along well with their animals. Well, Weiss anyway. Perhaps due to her nature as a Cat Faunus, she was deathly afraid of Zwei and tried her best to avoid him. She actually looked afraid the dog would bite her when it sat on her lap one time.

Yang also took a picture of the corgi curled up on her chest when she found them sleeping together. The look of horror and pleading for help on the girl's face was so priceless, she couldn't not take a picture for the memories. First chance she got, it was going in the scrapbook!

"Oh, hush." Weiss' cheeks turned pink as she turned her head away.

"H-hey, guys? Little help back here?" Blake's voice called from inside the Bullhead. "I think my luggage got stuck!"

"A'right, hold your horses. I'm coming!" The blonde brawler grinned and dived back inside the aircraft. "What'cha get it stuck on this time, kitty cat?"

"Hey, Weiss." Ruby said to her partner. "I've been meaning to ask this, but during that whole pillow fight, you mentioned having an older sister."

The Schnee Heiress developed a wide smile, filled with pride as she nodded. "Winter Schnee, Atlesian Specialist and second-in-command to General James Ironwood, the Headmaster of Atlas Academy himself." she said, folding her arms. "Specialists are Atlas' own skilled Huntsmen, and Winter is chosen by Ironwood specifically."

"Oooh..." Ruby, interested, leaned in closer. "So she's likely the really strict big sister type?"

"Mostly in public. When it's in private, she's very nice." She paused briefly, then leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Just don't tell Winter I said that." Ruby giggled and nodded. "She's also far better at using the family Semblance than me."

"I think I remember you mentioning that. Yours is hereditary?"

Weiss nodded. "It's uncommon for a person's Semblance to be inherited by another, but it isn't as rare as people claim. My mother has it, but because she never got involved in anything related to Huntsmen business, she rarely ever used it. We can basically create mirror images of whatever we destroy or see, so long as we have an understanding of it. We typically use only Grimm for that, since creating a copy of, say Yang, is far more taxing and complicated." Weiss then sighed and dropped her head low. "Unlike Winter, I...can only use glyph and modify them with Dust. I can't summon mimics of Grimm."

"Really?" Ruby asked. "Why not?"

"I honestly don't know. I keep trying, but I could never get it to work. Even with Winter helping me."

"Oh...well, I'm sure you'll get it someday."

Weiss would have appreciated the sentiment, but she felt a little apprehensive. She had been trying for years, ever since Blanc disappeared from her life. She even asked help from Winter, yet no matter what she tried, she was never able to create a single thing. Only manifesting the glyphs, but never the actual construct itself. It was frustrating. What if her team got into a bad situation and making a construct was the only way out of it?

She didn't want to be a burden, much less baggage.

A few minutes later, Yang and Blake emerged, the latter somewhat exhausted from the struggle of getting her bag free. "I can't believe you managed to get it stuck on the recliner." the blonde snickered, causing the Cat Faunus' cheeks to heat up. "I mean, really. How do you do that?"

"Please stop."

"Alright, ladies. Enough." Weiss rolled her eyes. "Let's hurry up and get back to our dorm room. I'm already tired from the jet lag, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I could use some down time."

"Amen to that, Ice Queen."

"Will you stop that?!"

Ruby giggled at the sight of her sister and partner bickering before she felt something hit her heel. "Ow!" she yelped, catching the attention of her team. Wincing in pain, she looked down to find some kind of little rover at her feet, overturned. "What the? A toy?"

"Sorry 'bout that!" a voice called out behind her. "Controls are still a little wonky!" The group turned around to find a young teen approaching. Male with white-hair with black streaks and mismatched eyes. His left eye was dark red while his right eye was dark gray. He was wearing a uniform, but not the one from Beacon. It was black with white trims, an armband around his left bicep. Around his neck was a pristine white tie, albeit haphazardly done and rather sloppy.

"It's fine." Ruby said before she bent down and picked up the rover. "Here you go."

"Thanks." the teen said gratefully, taking the rover back. He gave it a quick look before he sighed. "Man, and here I thought I fixed it yesterday."

Weiss tilted her head. "You don't look like you're from Beacon." she said, taking notice of his appearance. "And that uniform... Are you from Atlas?"

"Hm? Oh-oh, yeah!" Nodding, the teen smiled sheepishly. "I'm with my buddies. Argent Animus of Team GLAE. Nice to meet you, I guess."

"GLAE?!" Ruby's eyes lit up. "Ooh, you're from Gawain's team!"

"How do you..." Argent leaned forward a bit, getting a closer look at Ruby before recognition struck him. "OH! You're that girl he mentioned a few days ago! Ruby, right?" The girl nodded, making him smile. "Wow, small coincidence. Huh. Maybe my rover wigging out was fate or something."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Wow. A bit chessy, don't you think?"

"Nah. That's more my partner's shtick."

"Your partner?" Weiss asked. "Would I be correct to assume you mean either Leonidas or Edan?"

"Wait, how do you know so much about us? Hold on, let me guess...Gawain?"

"Well, he did tell us about you three the last time we met up in town. He spoke very highly of you." Blake commented. "By the way, what's the deal with the rover?"

"This thing? It's a bit of a side project. Scouting and all that." Argent answered with a small smile. "I'm something of a geek when it comes to tech and all that. Especially when it comes to weapons. Gawain's weapon? Made by yours truly."

"Really?!" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes. "You built his rapier and blunderbuss combination?!"

"Sure did!" Argent nodded happily. "Same with my teammates!"

Weiss sighed. "Great." she muttered in exasperation. "The dunce has found someone she can talk about weapons with."

"Well, at least she's making new friends..." Yang commented with a grin.

"What kind of weapons do you guys use?!" Ruby asked excitedly. "I remember that Gawain's could combine into a ranged and melee combination, but he didn't say anything about you guys. Can yours do the same? Or are they different?! Oh! And can you please tell me about this secret project Penny told me about?!"

Blake shook her head. "I get the feeling this is going to take a while..."

* * *

"I see. Thank you for the report, then, old friend. See you soon." The call dropped shortly afterwards. Ozpin sighed softly as he reclined in his seat, holding his mug and looking at it with veiled annoyance when he noticed there was no more hot coco in it. "Drat. Finished it already." Time really did fly. Between the phone call and the paperwork, he hadn't noticed that he had drained his mug dry. He set it back down on the table and looked out the window, finding a clear sky before him. The day was mostly peaceful, but even he knew that it wasn't going to last for very long. Not with what happened at the docks, and most certainly not with the new semester coming in just a few short hours.

The door to his office opened behind him with little announcement. But he already knew who entered by the clacking of heels alone. "Ruby Rose and her team have returned today." Glynda informed him. "And His Highness' flight should be arriving shortly. Jaune Arc and his team will also be returning sometime later, due to air traffic forcing them to arrive via the Intercontinental Highway."

"Thank you, Glynda." Ozpin thanked her for her diligence. Much to his delight, she'd also arrive with a pot of familiar liquid. "You, my dear, are a life saver."

"I'm well aware how strenuous things can get with situations like this. Especially since it's so close to the Vytal Festival." Glynda answered as she poured him a cup. "But do not thank me just yet. I have also received word that Coucilman Izunia is due to make his arrival soon as well."

Well, that put a damper on his mood. Frowning slightly, Ozpin took a drink from his mug, finding it less fulfilling than he had earlier. "Is he arriving with James?"

"Yes. And they're bringing James' personal fleet with him." Glynda wrinkled her nose slightly as she gave a small huff. "Apparently, the oaf wanted to bring an entire fleet with him, but the High Councilman suggested only his personal entourage."

 _'Small comfort, I'm afraid.'_ Ozpin thought to himself. He wasn't quite keen on James' insistent stance on bringing in so much firepower, so the fleet in question being so small was good news. The fact that it was only that way because of Ardyn was worrisome. In all honesty, if it weren't for Regis, Ozpin would have trusted the man, if perhaps wary. Something about him just put him on edge. And now that he knew why, he was all the more cautious.

"When is the High Councilman expected to arrive?"

"Why, I am already here, Headmaster Ozpin." A smooth, baritone voice greeted jovially. Striding into the room was the man of the hour himself, flanked by one figure on either side of him.

They were both teenagers, but the way they carried themselves signified training and experience.

To the left was a young man, a Faunus with sharp curved horns resembling those of a ram, electric blue hair and eyes with his hands in his pockets. He wore a black uniform, a customized version of the one worn by military officers with white trims and a long spear strapped to his back. To the right was another young man, this one having a rather roguish face with gold eyes and wavy cherry red hair. His eyes had a twinkle for mischief, and unlike his companion he wore a light blue blazer over a dark red button up shirt with black dress pants and dance shoes. Pinned to the left breast pocket of his blazer was a red rose, and on his face was a charming smile.

"H-High Councilman." Glynda stuttered in surprise. "You're...earlier than expected."

"Oh, James is such droll company, so I booked a different flight than he did." Ardyn Izunia said with a charming smile, tipping his hat to her. "You're looking rather lovely, Ms. Goodwitch. A shame you and James parted ways, you two were such a lovely couple."

"S-sir, please. That was a long time ago, and-"

"While I do hate to be rude," Ozpin cut in purposely, a little put-off by how easily Ardyn was disarming Glynda. Regis had asked him to remain quiet about his knowledge of Ardyn's true nature, if only because Regis himself had yet to confirm the truth. Even so, both men already knew. They only needed to hear the snake speak the words himself. "I'm afraid you've arrived perhaps a bit too early. The semester has yet to begin, and the students are only just now returning from their brake."

Ardyn chuckled. "Must you be so standoffish, Oz?" he asked, earning a twitch by the man. "I've told you before to loosen up."

"My apologies, High Councilman."

"Oz, do please call me Ardyn. High Councilman just makes me sound like an old man." he replied before he gestured to the young men behind him. "I believe I haven't yet introduced them to you, have I? Allow me to introduce to you two proud members of Team GLAE - Leonidas C. Rhosyn-Glas and Edan Lazuli."

Glynda and Ozpin blinked. "Rhosyn-Glas?" the former asked in surprise. "The medical company?"

The Rhosyn-Glas company. A corporation almost as renowned as the Schnee Dust Corporation. However, they did not specialize in Dust. Rather, they specialized in medical technology and pharmaceuticals. They even collaborated with Lucis to research their potions, ethers, and other items that are nothing short of medical miracles. However, a few years ago, they have grown quiet for reasons unknown. The former CEO and corporate heir mysteriously vanished. Then, a few months later, a new head rose to take over the company, propelling it even greater heights than before.

It had good working conditions and generous salaries for their employees, whether they be human or faunus, and abolished any form of discrimination within the company under its new leadership. It also produced advanced medical devices and treatments that boosted the quality of living.

"Yes." Ardyn nodded with a grin. "Young Leonidas here is not only the current head of the company, but has taken it to even greater heights."

Leonidas chuckled, scratching his cheek. "Hey now, old man. Don't go flattering me." he said bashfully while the two adults stared at the teen in shock. Having the heir to the SDC attending as a student was something, but the head of a company, especially at such a young age, guarding one of the most influential people in Atlas was another thing entirely. "You make it sound like it's a cakewalk. Just ask Edan here how much trouble it is for me, guarding you and running a company at once."

"Please don't drag me into this." Edan sighed while he shook his head. "And you made the stress pretty obvious every time you dragged me and the guys to help out in your corporate escapades."

"Exactly. It's a miracle I'm not losing my hair from all of this." Leonidas held up a strand of red hair to emphasize.

Glynda sweatdropped. She half-expected the boy in front of her to be another Weiss Schnee, but he was surprisingly laid-back. "I...see..."

"At any rate," Ardyn clapped his hands. "I merely stopped by to see how things were going. After all, it is my first time here at Beacon. And I simply couldn't stop myself from visiting you when I heard Vale would be hosting this year's Vytal Festival. Of course, Atlas is willing to provide security detail. Given what happened at the docks, and the surprising news of a Daemon appearing outside of Lucis' borders, I would say you could use the extra help."

Ozpin kept his hands firm, but inside, he was starting to grow tense. The man was making him agitated with every passing second. "I suppose a little extra help wouldn't be too bad." he admitted. "I suppose I'll have to take you up on the offer."

"Excellent!" the red-haired Councilman grinned from ear to ear. "I hope we can chat more. I have another engagement to attend. Such a shame, too. I was hoping to introduce to you Team GLAE's leader. A fine young man, that one." A strange gleam passed through his eyes, one that put Ozpin on edge. "He's certainly an extraordinary young man. He hasn't achieved his Semblance yet, but his skills are quite impressive."

"You speak highly of him." Ozpin noted. "As if you are proud of him."

"How can I not be? The lad is quite an exceptional one. I hope I get the chance to formally introduce you sometime." Ardyn then tipped his hat and turned on his heel, making his way for the door. "ta ta for now, dear Oz!"

Leonidas trailed after him waving goodbye while Edan nodded his head before leaving. As they left, Glynda sighed. "How is it that every time I manage to run into him, he somehow makes me feel so exhausted?" she wondered aloud before she turned to Ozpin, only to blink when she saw his hands clutching his cane so tightly, his knuckles had turned white. "Ozpin? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Glynda." Ozpin told her. Not quite the truth, but not quite a lie. "Just...perhaps a bit on edge is all."

* * *

"Ah, Beacon..." Prompto sighed deeply as he and the rest of Team LAPI entered the campus grounded. "Home sweet home."

"Technically, Insomnia is Home. But I get what you mean. Kinda missed this place." Noctis agreed. He rubbed his neck as they walked, still feeling a little tired. "Too bad classes start up tomorrow. Man this is gonna suck. I really do envy you two."

Gladio and Ignis both shared a smirk, being the only two exempt from classes. The former even more so, being the slightly oldest among them. However, he was far from being the most responsible, always indulging in a little mischief. It was always Ignis' job to make sure they never caused too much trouble. Regardless, he always made it a point to make sure that Noctis and Prompto both not only did well academically, but also to ensure they didn't do anything stupid.

In a manner of speaking, he was like a second parent.

"Could be worse." Gladio shrugged. He stopped a moment later when he saw something up ahead. "What the... Well, I'll be damned."

Ignis followed Gladio's line of sight and then saw him, causing him to blink in surprise. "This is certainly an odd coincidence."

"Oh, hello again, your highness." Gawain waved as he approached the four. "I see you made it back for the new semester."

"Yeah. And I see you healed up pretty nicely from the other day." Noctis noted how the Councilman guard no longer had any visible injuries from the dock incident.

"Yes. Never underestimate Atlas medical technology. That and Lucis' potions definitely work wonders." he said, a hand on his hip.

"So, what brings you here to Beacon?" Prompto asked curiously. "Didja decide to transfer or something?"

Gawain shook his head. "No way. My dad prefers me at Atlas, if only because he likes having me around." he said. "I'm just here on guard detail, since the High Councilman arrived here earlier than what we scheduled."

"Really? High Councilman Izunia is already here? I would've assumed he would arrive with General Ironwood."

"The High Councilman took a different plane. He said that he found the General to be 'rather droll company'. He also said he wanted to meet with the Headmaster about something. Not sure what exactly."

"So you'll be sticking around as long as he's here?"

"Well, that's part of the reason. The other reason is that my team is also going to participate in the Vytal Tournament."

That was a pleasant surprise, as well as good news for Noctis. "Guess this means we might be seeing each other out there when it comes time to kick the crap out of each other?"

"I'd imagine so." Gawain smirked. "Just don't expect me to hold back because your a prince."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Gawain! There you are!" Emerging from the corridor was a teen with white-and-black hair, slightly out of breath. "Where were you? I was looking everywhere!"

The red-haired teen rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Arg. I was busy getting used to the layout."

"Well, next time, give a guy some heads up, will ya?" his friend griped before he took notice of the Lucians. "Oh... W-whoops. I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"It's fine." Ignis told him. "I assume you're also a member of Team GLAE?"

"Y-yeah. Argent Animus. And you guys are...?"

"Team LAPI." Noctis said. "I'm Noctis. These are my friends Prompto, Gladio and Ignis."

"Wait, team? But the two behind you look older..." he trailed when as he frowned, looking away. "Wait, Noctis? Where have I...?" Realization hit and he suddenly stood straighter. "Y-Your Highness! OhmygodIamsosorry!"

Gawain laughed at the look Noctis was giving him. He clearly didn't like being addressed so formally. "It's fine, Arg." he told his partner. "You didn't mean any harm."

"Ah, so this is where you've been, my little Gawain." a smooth voice called out. A figure stepped into view. One that, for some inexplicable reason, put Noctis on edge as he felt all the hairs on his body suddenly stand up straighter. His fingers twitched, and with it came the urge to call on his Engine Blade in defense. "I was wondering where you've been."

Gawain bowed his head. "Sorry, High Councilman. I was..."

"It's fine." Ardyn Izunia smiled widely. "I don't mind if you mingle, but do make sure you keep in touch with your team when you do so." He then turned to look at Team LAPI. More accurately, he looked at Noctis. His smile seemed to grow wider and his eyes narrowed sharply, as if zeroing on his pray. "My, my. Do my eyes deceive me, or do I have the pleasure of meeting the Crowned Prince of Lucis, Noctis Lucis Caelum?"

"Y-Yes..." Noctis snapped out of his tense state and slowly extended a hand. "That's me. And you are the High Councilman, Ardyn Izunia. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Ardyn grasped the hand and shook firmly. The sense of unease returned, but left as Ardyn let go. He didn't know why...but Noctis felt wary around this man.

"It's an honor." As Ardyn pulled his hand back, he turned back to Gawain. "As much as I would love to stay and chat, I'm afraid we have an appointment to keep. Gawain, would you mind calling Leonidas and have him pull the car around?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good!" He turned back to Noctis and flashed a grin, tipping his hat. "Until the next time, Your Highness." He then turned on his heel and left, Gawain and Argent following close behind him with the former with a phone in his hand.

Ignis watched the three warily, not noticing that a hand had been kept firmly on his hip, specifically where the pouch containing his knives had been. "So, that was the former Chancellor of Niflheim." he said with a thing edge in his voice. "What did you think of him, Noct?"

"I think..." He stared at the hand that shook with Ardyn's, unable to remove the sense of strange familiarity and unease around the man. "...that we should be very careful around him."

* * *

Team JNPR reunited with Team RWBY and LAPI not long after they finally arrived from the station. Once everyone had returned to their rooms and unpacked, they had taken to hitting up the cafe, which was open for everyone since some students had chosen to remain at Beacon in spite of the break, mostly second and third-year students.

"So, how did you guys enjoy Insomnia?" Prompto asked eagerly. "Was it everything you dreamed it would be?"

"It was awesome!" Nora grinned from ear to ear. "It was like everything was made of silver! And the food was sooo good! We even got to go on a hunting trip with Jaune's teacher!" She then pouted a second later as her mood deflated. "But we didn't get to see any Behemoths..."

"And thank god for that." Jaune sighed in relief. "Ever since Initiation, I've been dreading seeing one again. Especially if they breathe fire."

"I think it was just that one." Gladio chuckled, taking a bite out of a biscuit. "Hn. Bit on the dry side."

Ignis crossed his legs as he skimmed through a book in his hand. "What are you reading?" Blake asked out of curiosity. Being an avid reader, she had always been interested in books, regardless if they were on history or autobiographies and whatnot.

"Hm? Oh, nothing of real importance." he waved a hand as he closed the book shut. Noctis snuck in a glance and saw the cover of the book and blinked. It read: A Study on Semblances. That was odd. Since when did Ignis have an interest in Semblances? "And I can assure you, Jaune, that to our knowledge, Behemoths do not breathe any fire whatsoever."

"Ooh! Ooh! How was Eins?!" Prompto leaned in with an eager smile. "I haven't seen that little guy in years!"

Yang laughed heartily. "He's gotten pretty big!" she said with a grin. "Unlike Zwei, we had to build him a little penthouse. That, and dad was getting tired of finding feathers everywhere in the house."

"Really? That's funny..." Prompto chuckled. "Man...I wish I could've seen him again. He was adorable as a Chocobo chick."

"Maybe we can bring you guys the next time we head back to patch." Yang replied. As long as she had known the photographer, he had simply loved Chocobos. He wouldn't let Eins out of his sight when they were young.

"Well, I'm glad the little guy is doing well." Noctis added as he ate a scoop of his omelette. "Anyway, take a guess who we ran into earlier?"

"Gawain?" Blake offered. "We ran into a teammate of his. Argent, I think his name was." Her lips spread into a smile. "Turns out he's their version of Ruby, except with more emphasis on robotics than anything else. They spent the last half hour talking. She even forgot we were here."

"Did not!" Ruby cut in with a pout. "Its just-do you know how often that I can talk to someone about weapons without them getting freaked out?!"

Yang gave her sister a grin as she leaned forward, propping her elbow on the table. "I bet you could to weapons with Gawain for hours~"

"YAAAAANG!"

The group laughed at their antics. However, Noctis could not shake the meeting from Ardyn from his mind. That sense of foreboding and unease. It was quite bizarre. It had been their first meeting, as far as he knew, and yet, when they touched hands... How was he to describe it? It felt as if his soul itself reacted to the man, in both a familiar and hostile manner. It had been through will alone that he prevented his sword from appearing to his side, lest he appear hostile towards such a powerful figure.

And he doubted that the bodyguards next to him would've taken kindly to striking the person they were supposed to protect.

Something about Ardyn Izunia put him off, and it was certainly not the fact that this man had once been an enemy to Lucis based solely on affiliation. Something specifically about Ardyn was enough to make him on guard. Whatever it was, it was dark and oppressive, like it was trying to suck the life out of him.

Whoever Ardyn was, Noctis was sure that he was dangerous.

"Yo, Noct. Hellooooo? Remnant to Noct!" The prince blinked, finding Prompto snapping his fingers under his nose. "Back with us? Man, you are seriously out of it today."

"Was I? Sorry. I was just thinking about when we met the High Councilman."

Weiss spluttered. "A-Ardyn Izunia was here?!" she cried in shock. "When?!"

"J-Just a couple hours ago..." Noct replied, surprised by the outburst. "We ran into him on our way to the dorm room. Same with Argent and Gawain."

"So Gawain was here after all?"

"Yeah." Ruby made a small noise of disappointment, making Yang giggle. "Oh, I'm sure you'll see your boyfriend again soon, Rubes."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ruby whined. "He's just a boy, who is a friend! That's it!"

"Uh-huh. Suuure." the brawler said, clearly not convinced. As such, the red hooded girl banged her forehead against the table in dismay. "Anyway, what's the Big Cheese of Atlas like?" At this, LAPI grew quiet. Prompto stopped chatting, Gladio stopped eating, Ignis looked up, and Noctis looked down at his hand. "...guys?" Yang asked, confused by the sudden silence.

"It was..." Noctis sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know how to put it. He made me feel on edge."

"He felt wrong somehow." Prompto admitted with a confused expression. "Like, the smile and his eyes didn't match his face kind of weird. Not saying he's a bad dude, considering we literally just met him, but something about him, it... God, how do you put it?"

Gladio chimed in. "He felt dangerous."

"I believe it's simply our nerves is all." Ignis said quickly, noticing how worried everyone looked. "What happened at the docks is clearly still on our minds."

"I heard what happened." Jaune said, looking down. "I'm sorry we weren't there to help you guys out."

"It's fine, Jaune." Ruby told her friend. "Speaking of feeling wrong, did your dad find out anything about that weird looking monster?"

Noctis shook his head. "They're still looking into it. But it was definitely a Daemon." His eyes hardened as he folded his arms. "But I will say this at least. If this Devil guy has found a way to gain control of Daemons, and more importantly, figured out how to get them outside of Lucis...then I'd say there's a lot to be worried about in the future."

"Things we can worry about later until we learn more." Ignis cut in sharply, clearly not liking the idea Noctis was suggesting. "For now, let the authorities handle it. School resumes tomorrow, and the Vytal Festival is a few months away."

"That's right. We still need to train for the tournament."Weiss remembered. Thinking back, they haven't had the chance to hone their skills at all since the night at the docks. They needed to prepare themselves for the competition.

"So do we." Jaune agreed. "We can't let the other schools beat us Beacon students, right?"

"Yes!" Ruby cheered. "Vale, represent! Who's with me?"

Yang raised a fist with a grin. Weiss rolled her eyes, but raised a hand in agreement. Blake merely held up a flag with "RWBY" written on it while reading her own book.

"Well, even though we're technically Beacon students due to the exchange program, were still actually representatives of Lucis. So...sorry?" Noctis apologized.

Nora shook her head wildly. "No way! You're still students of Beacon, so you're representing too!" she said fervently as she squirmed. "Ooh, this is gonna be great! We got a prince on our side! No way we'll lose! Vale for the win! Woohoo!"

"H-hey..."

And so the festivities continued on, with the three teams chatting away, all the while unaware that two individuals had walked out of a bookstore in downtime Vale, leaving behind a fresh corpse plastered across the floor with a nearly unrecognizable face.

* * *

Things had been agonizingly slow for Roman ever since the day at the docks. Between only able to retrieve just a mere case full of Dust and having a close encounter with death and getting an earful from Cinder, things had not been looking his way. Sure, he had more help than ever in aiding in his sprees, making some wonderful moola and all that, but said help was also maybe slightly less competent than his usual batch of thugs.

It really said something when Junior's men, who couldn't put up a decent fight, was capable of more work than the White Fang.

"God dammit, you idiots!" he scowled as he tossed his cigar away in a fit of frustration, unable to contain himself. "What the hell are you doing?! Trying to blow us all up?! How many times do I have to tell you?! Do! Not! Drop! The! Cases!"

"Heh. Sounds like you're about to bust a blood vessel, Roman my man." a filtered voice called out to him. Unlike previous times, Roman wasn't so much scared as he was annoyed as he looked behind him, finding Plague sitting atop a cargo shipment of Dust, head tilted. "Then again, I see why. Tell them you're going after a Schnee and they'll work like men possessed, but give 'em anything else, and they suck."

Roman sighed deeply. "Tell me about it..." The day couldn't possibly get worse.

"We're back, if you care." It could. Roman turned to find Cinder's little helpers approaching.

The first was a young woman with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Her hair was a light, mint-green with a straight fringe and bangs, as well as two long locks on each side, in the back. She wore two bronze-colored rings on her middle fingers as well as a pair of high-heeled shoes. Her attire consisted of a thin white top and an olive-colored shallow-cut crop top, on the back of which was an emblem resembling a gem. She wore a yellow, three-ring armband on her left arm and a string of gold beads near the same wrist. In addition, she wore white pants and brown chaps that end at her calves and an overlong belt, twice-wrapped, where she kept her weapons as well as a single pouch.

The other kid was male with a cocky air around him, bearing messy silver-gray hair and matching eyes. He wore a slate gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covered his upper body. Over it was a single notched belt with what looked like a sash or bandana draped over it. Protecting his arms were sets of rerebraces and vambraces. He wore dark cargo jeans with knee-high boots with silver tailings, with pieces of metal decorating his ankles.

"Heeey, it's the brats." Plague took notice of their presence as he looked among them, but found them lacking a person. "So, where's the firestarter?"

"Not back yet, if that's what you're wondering." Roman answered for them as he approached the two. "And just where the two have you been?"

"Taking care of a little problem of yours." The male answered, holding up a slip of paper. "Tukson's dead, by the way. Dead as a doornail."

Roman scowled. "I had that handled, you little shit."

"The packed bags and boxes and one way ticket to Vacuo said otherwise. If we had left it to you or your friend, he would've slipped through your fingers." The girl added.

"Really now?" Plague interjected as he appeared right next to the bickering three, his red eyes flaring. "Do you doubt my skill that much? You must know by now that not a single target of mine ever escapes my scope."

"He still would've gotten away before you even noticed."

"He wouldn't have gotten far. None of them ever do." A gust of steam exhaled from his mask. "Do you know? Because I give them a look at what it is they're hiding inside their pretty little heads. Do you want to see what you two are hiding?" His eyes glowed menacingly as he held up a hand, darkness swirling in his palm. In an instant, the two were on guard, ready to fight back.

That is, until Cinder appeared.

"Enough, children." The woman lowered herself from the platform she stood on and strode over to them with a sway on her hips. "We're all partners in this little venture. And partners shouldn't quarrel."

"Maybe, but did that ever stop Devil from picking a fight with you? You probably wouldn't even be around if Wraith hadn't stopped him all of those times." Plague quipped. Roman snickered while Cinder merely looked annoyed. "Do me a solid and keep your pets in check, otherwise you just might find them...a little scarred."

"As much fun as that sounds, I would appreciate it if you didn't. I need them intact. Especially Emerald." Cinder said. Mercury rolled his eyes when he saw Emerald preen at the woman's words. Getting praise from Cinder was pretty much a good way to get into her good graces. "And as for you, Roman... Regarding that matter with the traitor, why was it not done sooner?"

In response, the mobster spun his cane and aimed it at the vast array of Dust shipment. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been busy robbing every store in town for all the Dust they're worth!" he said. "Prices have been going up so high that they might as well be as expensive as cigars made in Vacuo! And we're floating up to our necks in more Dust than we know to deal with! You could practically go to war with all this shit!" He paused briefly before he angled a small glare at the red-clad woman. "Speaking of which, you still haven't told me why exactly you need all this stuff in the first place. Unless, of course, you're planning to bomb the shit out of someplace. If so, then you could blow a Huntsman Academy right off the map."

Cinder smiled playfully. "As delightful as that idea sounds, I'm afraid explosives is the last idea on my mind." She walked over to Roman and put a hand on his cheek. "For now, all you need to do is as you're told. Don't forget our arrangement, Roman."

"Right, right. I got it..." Roman scowled. Their "arrangement" wasn't even a true business deal. The terms were that he worked for her, and she wouldn't kill him.

He didn't have a choice in the matter. At least with partners like Neo and Plague, it made things a bit more bearable.

"Don't think you can act like the mastermind behind this shtick." Plague cut in. "It was Wraith's idea to cripple the military by stealing all this Dust. It's unsightly to be taking credit where it's not due."

Cinder chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it." she said before he took out a small piece of paper, flicking it over to Roman. "Here. Head to these coordinates, and do be quick about it."

"Coordinates?"

"We're proceeding with Phase 2." she told him before she looked at Plague. "I assume Wraith will also be more active this time around?"

Plague chuckled. "Assuming the Chosen King gets involved? You can bet your ass he will. It is what His Majesty wants."

"I see. Well, see to it that he does his jobs. It would be disappointing if he failed us."

"Very well. But let me remind you that we are not your henchmen, Cinder Fall. We are partners in this. So long as you don't cross us, we will do our jobs." Plague strongly reminded. "Otherwise, you need not worry. Wraith is most concerned of fulfilling His Majesty's will above all of us."

"Majesty this, Majesty that..." Roman rolled his eyes. "Who the hell are you even talking about?"

"Why, I thought you of all people would know who he is, Roman, considering he's the most powerful individual in Atlas. Even higher than the likes of General James Ironwood." Roman's face was priceless as he continued on, grinning underneath the mask. "The High Councilman, and in the world of Eos, the Chancellor of Niflheim.

"Ardyn Izunia..."

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 _ **Chapter: END**_

* * *

 **Next Time: Like Clockwork...**


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note:**

 **Starlight's Poet: This chapter features a small retcon. In Chapter 16, Sun was not present at the battle in the docks. I'm currently working on an edit in that chapter to include him. You'll understand when you read the chapter. So, for now, enjoy the chapter, as we're setting up for some good characterization! Anything you wanna add, mi amigo?**

 **Daemon of Wrath: Yes indeed. Be prepared for what we have in store for future chapters. Also, we do NOT own RWBY or Final Fantasy XV. They belong to Rooster Teeth and Square Enix respectively.**

 **Please enjoy.**

* * *

 **A Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:** **  
** _ **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**_

* * *

 **Chapter XII: Like Clockwork...**

* * *

"Sister! My honored friends! Lucians! Weiss!"

 _"HEY!"_

"Four scores and seven minutes ago, I had a dream..."

"This ougtha be good..." Yang said as she caught a piece of airborne food in her mouth.

"Aren't scores determined in years not minutes?" Gladio asked.

Prompto put a hand over the burly man's mouth, causing his eyebrow to twitch. "Shut up, I wanna see where this goes!"

Ruby then continued with the widest smile possible as she stretched her arms out. "A dream that one day, the twelve of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had...ever!"

There were a few cheers for Ruby's speech, primarily from Team JNPR and from Prompto. Noctis looked rather amused as he took a sip of his coffee, only to later cringe at the taste. Weiss glanced at the binder that Ruby had slammed on the table to catch their attention before she gave a pointed look to her team leader. "Ruby." she said evenly. "Is that my binder?"

"N-no..."

"Then why is my name on it? And more importantly, why is it crossed out?"

Prompto chuckled. "Not nice to steal, Ruby." he teased the girl, who's cheeks turned pink as she turned away with a harumph. "Still, I'm all for it! No better way to kick off the second semester than with a bang, right?"

"I say we kick it off with a Yang!" Crickets sounded off in the background while everyone present, even the people sitting in the surrounding tables, gave Yang a flat stare that more or less told her what they thought of her joke. She promptly stuck her tongue out. "You guys have no idea what a good joke is."

Ignis adjusted his glasses. "There are jokes." he deadpanned, a glare reflecting in his glasses. "And then there's that."

"I'll have to agree with Ignis on that one." Blake chimed. "Your jokes suck."

Yang looked at her partner with mock hurt. "Owch. That stings, kitty cat."

"Call me that again, and you'll find your hair spiked up with electricity." the Faunus warned her, giving the woman a pointed glare. "Or, better yet, I can mess around with that shampoo softener you like to use."

"Y-you wouldn't dare!"

"Then shut up and let your sister continue." Blake said.

"Fine..." Yang huffed.

"Thank you, Blake." Ruby thanked before she continued. "We all know what happened last semester was pretty crazy and the Tournament is only in a few more months! We'll be spending all our time training and preparing, which is why I decided to plan out all sorts of fun activities we can do together before that happens!"

Weiss stared at Ruby for a moment before she shook her head, either in exasperation or dismay. "I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store."

"I think it could be a good way to unwind." Jaune interjected. "How'd that saying go? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?"

"Well, I'm all up for having fun. Let's do it!" Yang cheered.

"I'm in!" Prompto seconded. "So, what's first on the agenda, Captain Ruby?"

Ruby opened her mouth, but something went flying past her and through the air. Suddenly, silence descended upon them as the eleven gathered students plus adults slowly turned their heads towards Yang, whose face was now splattered with pie. The plate slowly fell from her face, revealing her expression to be frozen.

A second passed. Two, then three.

Then her face morphed into one of rage as her eyes bled crimson and hair lit aflame. Moments later, the entire cafeteria erupted into chaos.

* * *

While chaos and anarchy was reigning inside the cafeteria, the campus was remarkably peaceful, if a little cluttered because of the gathering of students. Many were either wearing casual attire or differing uniforms, marking them as students from other Kingdoms. Since Vale was hosting this year's Vytal Festival, the other Academies had brought their representatives to Vale, both to test their mettle against the other students and also to help them get along with the other Kingdoms. Additionally, with the Cultural Exchange Program, the transfers from Lucis were also having the opportunity to learn more with the other students.

Of course, it was also a rare opportunity for some who were not involved with combat academies in the slightest. Students from normal schools were also allowed in Beacon, if only because they now had the opportunity to observe how students trained to fight were capable of in the hopes that some may be encouraged to choose the career of Huntsmen. This was especially true for Lucian students, who were hoping to learn more about the applications of Aura, Dust and weapons as future reference in regards to joining the Crownsguard, Kingsglaive or the Hunter's Association.

One such student observed Beacon with a sparkle in her eye, looking around in wonder. "So this is Beacon." she said in awe. "It's pretty big. Man, even Glaive Academy's gonna have a hard time compared to this place."

The girl in question was young, maybe 13 or 14 years of age with short dark brown hair, and brown eyes. She wore a black and brown short-sleeved hoodie, and a black and brown tartan-pattern miniskirt. In addition she had on black heeled boots with red soles. She also had a leather choker and a necklace with a round black pendant. She wore two belts with a chain hanging from one attached to her skirt. Wrapped around her wrist was a red chord, and a leather bracer on her other wrist.

This girl was Iris Amicitia, a student of a public school in Insomnia, as well as the younger sister of one Gladiolus Amicitia.

The reason why she was at a Beacon today? To visit her older brother and friends. It has been quite a while since they last met, and Iris took advantage of this opportunity. Like Yang, Ruby and the Nox Fleuret twins, Iris had been friends with Noct. In fact, they had all been friends, though Iris had usually been left out from most of their excursions due to her schooling and other factors. The first time Iris had met Noctis had been when Gladio had decided to bring her with him to work, though because of her impatience she had gotten lost. Worse yet, it had been pouring like mad. It was a miserable time, and it would have been worse, were it not for Noctis finding her. He had even claimed it was his fault for her getting into that mess in the first place and causing such trouble in the palace.

After that, she had formed something of a bond with the Prince, which also led to her meeting with Lunafreya, Stella, Ruby and Yang. She practically hit it off with Yang, all the while feeling envious of Lunafreya. Don't misunderstand, she loved the woman like she was her big sister, but she couldn't help but feel jealous of how she seemed to click with Noctis, and how beautiful she was.

Now the woman looked utterly stunning, and Iris knew that she didn't have any chances of earning Noctis' attention. That, and she was fully aware of how he was the faithful type. While she still held a candle for the man, she did want to wish him and Luna the best. Besides, she could enjoy her time with him at the very least.

Now that she thought about it, didn't Yang also confess having feelings for Noctis at one point?

"I wonder where Noct and Gladio are." Iris wondered as she looked around the campus, hoping to find a student who could give her some directions. "This place is really huge. Where am I even supposed to find everyone?" She paused briefly when she saw someone slam into the window next to her. To her bewilderment, it was a student of Beacon judging by their uniform. They slid down the window, face still planted into the window. Inside, she could see what looked like a food fight brewing, with turkeys and watermelons and pies and fruits flying all over the place. "...okay. Not the weirdest thing I've seen."

As Iris was about to continue, someone bumped into her. "Sorry 'bout that." they apologized to her. Iris looked up and promptly blushed as the first thing she saw was the killer abs they were sporting, courtesy of their shirt being open. "Wasn't watching where I was going."

Iris quickly shook out of her stupor to avoid being called a pervert for ogling. "N-no no, it's fine. I was distracted as well."

"Still, really sorry about that." Sun Wukong apologized before getting a better look at her attire and apparent age. "You don't seem to be a student here. Are you a visitor?"

"Kind of. Looking for my big brother." she told him. "He's kind of a big guy, ripped muscles and all that. His name's Gladio. Have you seen him anywhere? He's a Lucis Transfer student. Should be with a guy who looks like he just got up out of bed, a guy with a camera and another guy with glasses dressed in a suit."

"You mean Noctis, Prompto, and Ignis?" Sun asked, much to her surprise.

"You know them?!"

"Yeah, we met back at the docks a while back when I first got here. I was actually looking for them myself. Wanted to introduce them to a friend of mine." He gestured to the guy standing next to him. A pretty boy by the look of him, with blue hair and goggles strapped to his forehead, wearing a dress shirt underneath a dark red jacket with black trims and denim jeans with pieces of leather strapped to his legs.

The pretty boy waved at her. "Hey. Name's Neptune." he said with a charming smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Fair warning." Sun whispered to her with a grin. "He's a bit of a flirt."

"Dude? Why you gotta say that?" Neptune complained, somewhat breaking his 'cool guy' image.

"Just saying. You flirt with pretty much any pretty girl we meet." the blonde Faunus shrugged. "That, and she looks like a minor." He then paused and looked back at Iris. "Um, sorry, how old are you?"

Iris giggled. "I turn 14 in a few months." she told him. "I'm Iris, by the way. And you are?"

"Sun! Nice to meet ya, Iris." The two shook hands in greeting but were interrupted by a loud crash from within the building next to them.

"The heck's going on in there?" Neptune questioned.

"No clue...wanna check it out?" Sun suggested.

Iris grimaced. "Kind of scared to. They're having a heck of a food fight."

"Food fight?" Neptune scoffed. "C'mon. How bad could it be?"

* * *

Noctis stared at the scene in front of him, wondering if someone had spiked his coffee. The whole cafeteria had been turned into a demilitarized zone, ruined and in utter disrepair. The worst part came not in the destruction, but rather how it was destroyed. It was oddly fascinating how food alone was capable of so much damage. Then again, the people behind the destruction were of equal scrutiny and praise, especially since the main culprit was standing atop a pile of vending machines, broken tables, pieces of concrete and even, more bizarrely, fridges, wielding a metal pole with a watermelon attached to it, as if making a makeshift hammer.

"This..." Prompto whispered as he snapped photo after photo. "...is the best food fight ever. Of all time."

Gladio groaned as he rummaged through his hair, picking out pieces of grapes and gravy. "Didn't they start a food fight like this last semester when it started?"

"It's strangely marvelous to see how children can fight so aggressively when it comes to food." Ignis remarked dully. "However, I imagine Professor Goodwitch will be quite displeased."

"That's what Nora gets for throwing a pie in Yang's face." Noctis sighed as he ducked behind the makeshift barricade he and Gladio built in a haste, wanting no part in the massacre that was about to take place. The only people left standing in this great Food War were Teams RWBY and JNPR, with RWBY looking ready to claim victory against the tyrannical Queen Nora Valkyrie. "And getting the stuff in her hair."

"I know girls are crazy about their hair, but Yang takes it a little too far, don't you think?" Gladio asked. "Actually, shouldn't we stop this?"

Noctis gave his friend a strange look, raising an eyebrow. "That depends? You want to get involved in that?" he gestured to the ensuing chaos.

Weiss was currently locked in battle with Nora, wielding a swordfish as if it were a rapier against Nora's Watermelon hammer. However, fineese failed against brute force as Nora slammed her through a barricade of tables and crashed into the adjacent wall and pillar. Ruby rushed up and caught her before she fell on the ground as the pillar crumbled. Meanwhile, Yang and Ren rejoined the battle, the former arming herself with turkey gauntlets while the latter grabbed a pair of leeks.

Ren blocked her initial kick before they matched each other blow for blow. Yang delivered a fierce uppercut and launched him into the air. Ren recovered and threw his leeks like spears. Yang dodged and jumped above Ren, delivering a solid hay-maker to the face and smashed him through a mass of tables and dishes.

Nora rushed in to avenge her partner and swung her hammer up, hitting Yang, lift her up, and smash her straight through the roof of the cafeteria.

"...Nope. I'm good." Gladio said simply.

"That's what I thought."

As Team LAPI stood at the sidelines and waited for the dust to settle, Prompto briefly stopped to switch film roles and noticed three new bystanders, who had also wisely chosen to stay out of the conflict. He recognized Sun fairly easily, but he didn't recognize the guy with the blue hair. When he saw the third person, his eyes widened considerably.

"Now, I could be wrong." he said simply. "But is that Iris over there?"

"Say what?!" Gladio's head snapped over to where Prompto pointed. Sure enough, it truly was his little sister.

...His sister who nearly got hit by a randomly thrown soda-grenade that splashed its contents onto the blue haired teen. "Iris?!" Noctis shouted in surprise. His shout also earned her attention, as she soon grinned and waved at him. "What in the heck are you doing here?!"

"I came to see you!" she said before she ducked, avoiding being struck by a turkey. "Okay, wow. Food fights in a Huntsmen Academy are no joke."

"Tell me about it." Prompto ducked underneath another soda grenade. "This makes the one last semester seem tame!"

"And still a waste of perfectly good food." Ignis frowned. As a chef, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at how they were destroying so much produce.

The fighting had eventually reached the high point with Pyrrha using her Semblance to gather up all the soda cans around her and send them flying at Ruby, who merely looked at the incoming projectiles before she smirked and went wild with her own Semblance, becoming nothing but a collection of rose petals going at high speed, darting right past the cans. In fact, the speed in which she was going seemed to pull the cans in around her, trailing behind her. When JNPR realized what was about to happen, it was too late. Ruby had dashed right past them and sent them flying right into the wall, where they were promptly stuck on before they were pelted with a variety of foods and soda cans, which exploded on impact.

A minute later and Ruby landed back on the ground with a wide, triumphant smile while the wall behind her looked like a giant wall that had been pelted with different coats of paint. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren soon fell to the ground, either groaning in pain or just too tired to move with the front part of their bodies taking the brunt of all the damage, looking like art rejects.

Prompto snickered as he and the rest of the Lucians stepped out into view, now that the fighting was over. "That was awesome." he said with a grin. "Totally, totally awesome. Man I love this school."

"I can see why." Iris said as she joined them, Neptune and Sun following behind her. "Though I don't think the janitors will like the mess all that much."

The doors to the cafeteria slammed open, revealing a very angry and very annoyed Glynda Goodwitch. Not willing to incite her wrath, the seven pulled back and let her forward, where she swung her riding crop. Everything that was either demolished or broken soon pulled itself back together. Tables were pieced back into place and set on the floor while the wall that Ruby had demolished and desecrated was repaired, albeit still marred with the remains of fruit juices, soda and grease among other things. All in all, it looked as if the cafeteria had never been in a war zone.

"Children." she stressed, glaring daggers at Teams RWBY and JNPR (minus Yang who had yet to return). "Please. Don't play with your food." The group shuddered underneath her gaze and nodded, lest they be judged like sinners before the Devil.

Just then, the roof collapsed and something yellow fell into the table, revealing itself to be Yang, who stared up at the ceiling in wonder along with her teammates before laughing.

"Wow. Nora must've hit her pretty hard. She's been up there for a long time." Prompto commented in amazement. She was gone for a good few minutes.

"Heh. I seriously love these guys." Sun smiled at an irritated, soda-soaked Neptune.

Glynda watched the whole scene with the same expression until she saw Ozpin approach behind her. "Let it go, Glynda." he told her.

The Professor sighed deeply. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And they are." he insisted. "But right now, they are children. Let them play the part. After all, it is not a role they will have forever." Glynda's eyes softened, noticing the tone Ozpin had. Clearly, he wanted them to enjoy being what they were right now: students who had not a care in the world. But they knew better. Sooner or later, they would have to understand what they would find themselves in. What it meant to lead the life of a Huntsman. "For now, let's leave them be. James is on his way here."

Glynda rolled her eyes. "I had hoped he would be running late."

"You should know better. James is a man of discipline. Punctuality is one of them." Ozpin answered. "No doubt he would want to discuss matters concerning the High Councilman."

That, and among other things. But those were words best said in private.

* * *

Glynda had ultimately settled on detention for three days for the trouble they caused. The only reason she had been lenient was because of Ozpin's insistence. She was utterly baffled by those children, especially considering the prince and his team were smart enough not to get involved. That said, she was perhaps a little annoyed by how they had chosen to stay out of the fight rather than try to stop it.

Not that she blamed him. Even she felt amazed by how much damage they could do with only their Semblances and their food.

Ozpin had decided it would be best to meet James at the port, rather than wait for him to come to them. She had ordered a cab to take them, and along the way, she noticed a small protest going on in the streets. A group of Faunus had gathered in front of a sizable store wielding signs. She didn't get a good look at the shop, but she had a good guess as to what it was.

"At least they're protesting instead of outright attacking it."

Ozpin sighed softly. "Come now, Glynda. You can't assume all of the White Fang follow Flaemis' ideals. Sienna Khan has expressed her displeasure with her subordinate, and do not forget that, now more than ever, there are many who share Ghira Belladonna's ideals."

"I realize that. But you can't deny that Flaemis and his ideals are simply too destructive. His acts of terrorism results in casualties and massive amounts of collateral damage."

"I am well aware." Ozpin replied solemnly. "The incident at the docks speaks much of the amount of hatred and spite within him."

That had been putting it mildly. Jacques had been quite colorful in his statement regarding the loss of his shipment. Rather than blame it on incompetence of the guard duty as Ozpin suspected he would, rather the man praised the actions taken by the Prince of Lucis, the leader of Ardyn's bodyguards and the Huntresses of Beacon Academy, Jacques had been slandering the White Fang in a controlled and eloquent rage that would have made even the most affable of men envious. Ghira himself had confessed that Sienna was also livid and had more or less demanded that the cell in Vale return to face punishment.

None of them answered. Meaning that Devil had officially gone rogue, and as such, they could no longer be considered White Fang. Naturally, Jacques ignored her statements, as he always had.

He still blamed the White Fang as a whole for the loss of his shipment and raised even more tensions between his company and the Faunus. Ozpin briefly wondered if this amount of spite was due to the loss of his son seven years ago, or due to the damages dealt to his company.

He had a sneaking suspicion that it was more of the latter than the former.

The rest of the ride was done in silence until they arrived at their destination. As Ozpin exited the cab and paid the driver, he looked up with some distaste as he found a few airships, all heavily armored and decked out with armaments hanging overhead. One such airship, five times the size of the average Bullhead, descended and touched the landing pad. As the engines powered down, the door was pulled down and formed into a ramp. Several men, all garbed in armor and accompanied by pristine white humanoid machines, stepped out and formed a line. James was the last to disembark, accompanied by a young woman in her early twenties. Tall with a fair complexion, her white hair tied into a bun at the back of her head. Her eyes were icy blue. Traits that were also present at a student of Beacon Academy.

Her attire was navy blue, white and gray colored, consisting more of a white coat with a red brooch, exposing upper arms and black gloves. At her hip was a saber, a dueling sword judging by its design with a thin curved edge. On the other side of her hip was a flintlock pistol.

"Oz." Ironwood smiled widely. "Glynda. You should have told me you were coming to greet me personally, otherwise I would have cleaned up a bit. Pardon if I smell a bit. I had something of a problem last night."

"It's fine, James." Ozpin assured the man. "I assume that problem had something to do with a certain High Councilman?"

The man cringed. "I take it he's already arrived."

"A day early. He introduced me to two members of Team GLAE, as a matter of fact."

"I see. I would be surprised if he hadn't. Ardyn has made it quite clear that he is proud of his personal guards."

"Is there any particular reason? It seemed to be more than simply being impressed by their skills. He even wished to introduce us to the team leader personally."

"You mean Gawain?" The woman next to James questioned.

Ozpin nodded. "That would be him, I imagine. I believe he was also the one who helped Teams LAPI and RWBY defend the Schnee Dust Corporation cargo."

"One of our finest." Ironwood admitted. "He was the youngest person to graduate from Atlas Academy. Ardyn even handpicked him himself."

"Why is that?"

"That, I believe, can wait until we're alone in your office." the General admitted. "Besides, there are more important matters to discuss."

"About the Vytal Festival and prior incidents, I presume?"

"Yes. Among other things. Particularly a rather...unique...individual." Ironwood added cryptically. Yet Ozpin understood the underlying meaning of his words.

He nodded. "Very well, then. Then let's be off. It seems we have much to discuss."

* * *

"I can't believe you're actually here, girl!" Yang giggled madly as Team RWBY and LAPI roamed the halls of Beacon, Iris close at her side. Sun and Neptune would have joined them, the former especially if it meant he could hang out with Blake, but Glynda had more or less strong-armed them into helping Team JNPR, seeing as how they were still half-conscious and beaten. "You should have told us you were coming! I would've prepped a whole party for you and everything!"

"Sorry, it was kind of last minute since my school decided at the last possible second." Iris replied with a wide smile, standing between her and Gladio. "I love your hair, by the way! It looks beautiful!"

The blonde brawler positively beamed at this, playing with her locks. "It is pretty awesome, huh? But let me tell you, it is a pain to keep after."

"I'll say." Weiss groaned. "She uses the most expensive hair conditioner and softener she can find online. And don't even get me started on how long she's in the bathroom for. Even Blake doesn't take that long, and she's got an extra set of delicate ears to keep in mind."

And that was to say nothing of how protective she was of her beautiful mane. Ruby shuddered when she remembered how one of Yang's short-term boyfriends had accidentally spilled some water on her head and ended up receiving a broken nose, in spite of the fact that he apologized a dozen times over. Her temper was more or less the reason why, in spite of her gorgeous looks, she rarely ever dated. Ruby could count the number of boyfriends she's had over the years on one hand alone.

Then again, said relationships only lasted maybe a month or two, as she knew that her big sister was still pining after a certain someone, despite her insistence on the matter.

"So, introductions since Weiss and Blake haven't met her yet." Prompto said as he slung an arm around Iris. "This is Gladio's kid sister, Iris! Soon to be fashionista extraordinaire!"

"You plan to be a fashion designer?" Weiss asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah. I've had an interest in fashion for a long time. I've worked on some sketches and designs. I hope to make a professional career out of it." She answered bashfully.

"Well. If you need advice, we have a friend here is Beacon's own resident fashionista. Her name's Coco Adel. I'm sure she would give you some pointers and advice." Yang suggested.

Ignis nodded. "Indeed, she is. She's a second-year as well, so I'm sure we could introduce you."

"That sounds cool." Iris nodded. "So, what's Beacon been like for you guys? Come on, gimme all the details!"

"What do you want to know?" Noctis asked.

"Well, for starters, has Ruby found someone she likes yet?"

Said girl squawked like a deer in headlights. "Iris, the heck?!" she cried, looking scandalized.

Yang smirked as she pulled Ruby's hood over her head when she attempted to stop them before they could say anything. "His name is Gawain, he's from Atlas, the leader of his own team, happens to be the bodyguard of a bigwig from Atlas, and he's a total badass."

"Ooh~ Is he handsome?"

"Eh, that's up for debate. He's got a cute face, but I think that's about it."

"Yaaaaaaaaang!" Ruby whined as she threw her hood up. Why does she keep teasing her about Gawain?! Sure he's nice and kinda cute, but she hardly knew the guy!...and did she just think he was cute?!

Embarrassed again, Ruby pulled her hood over her face voluntarily.

"Ruby, there's nothing to be ashamed about...you finally have your first crush!" Iris cheered.

Ruby whined and pulled harder on her hood. The result was everyone laughing at her expense. "You guys suck..." she moaned at her current situation and hanged her head low. Why did they have to tease her over this? It was just a crush. A small little fleeting thing she'd get over one day! Besides, she'd like to reiterate she barely knew anything about Gawain! Was this payback for all the times she teased Yang? Was it?

"Oh, hello again!"

Ruby's cheeks burned. Did even whatever Gods there were in this world decide to make her day worse?! Dearly hoping she was wrong, she dared to look up and, sure enough, she found Gawain standing at the corner of the hallway, a smile at his side while his teammate, a Faunus with long curved horns and electric blue hair, stood next to him.

"You know, I've got half a mind to think you're stalking me." Noctis joked as Gawain approached. "I take it this is one of your teammates?"

The red-haired teen nodded. "Yes, he is. This is my partner, Edan Lazuli."

"Greetings." Edan bowed his head politely. "Please try not to stare at my horns too much. I'm fully aware I look like the Devil."

"Well, I was going to say you somewhat reminded me of a friend of mine." Blake replied. "I take it you heard that a lot in your past?"

"You don't know the half of it. Childhood pretty much sucked from all the jeers and insults. Wasn't all bad though. I met this guy and the rest of my team, and we pretty much been like family ever since." He nudged Gawain in the rib with an elbow.

Prompto cocked his head. "Why would they pick on you?" He honestly couldn't see the reason why. He had met plenty of Faunus in Lucis, even being friends with some of them. "I think they look cool."

Edan and Gawain blinked before the former laughed. "That's what Gawain and the others said when they saw my horns!" he said as he calmed down. "Ram Faunus typically get flak mostly from religious idiots. The Lucians aren't so bad, considering Ifrit has horns and he's seen as a bad guy, but the others? They like to think I'm a demon or something. Especially the White Hoods."

"I can see that." Noctis agreed, albeit a bit darkly. "Honestly, if it weren't for them, I think the White Fang wouldn't have taken to violence the way they did." And perhaps, maybe someone like Devil wouldn't have come into existence.

The male Faunus smiled at that. "On that, Your Highness, we agree."

"Call me Noctis. I don't like formalities all that much."

"That's another thing we can agree on. I'm not much for them either. So feel free to call me Edan."

"Got it. So it's just the two of you wandering about?" Noctis asked. "What about that other guy? Argent, right?"

"He's around, but he's still tinkering with his rover and his other project."

"And Leonidas, being the self-proclaimed magician that he is, is probably showing off to someone." Gawain added with an exasperated tone. "Probably a girl, too."

* * *

Gawain was partially right. Leonidas had been showing off, and to a girl in fact, but it wasn't for the purpose of flirting.

Okay, well maybe it was. He liked this girl, despite having only met her only a handful of times. But he kept in touch with her and liked her. Something about her just drew him in.

In hindsight, however, perhaps sneaking up on her and hugging her from behind was not the best idea, because when he did, he promptly found himself in a choke hold.

"M-Mercy! P-please! I'm sorry my cute...ma-magician...bunnyyyy..." the red headed teen wheezed as his face became an unhealthy shade of blue.

Velvet blinked, having acted on instinct from having been touched from behind. She had developed this habit after two years of dealing with Coco's antics and subsequent acts of groping. By now, this had become almost instinctual. She looked down to find a head full of cherry red hair. He looked oddly familiar, and gasping for breath. It took her a hot minute to realize who she was choking and promptly panicked, letting go of him.

"Oh my god I am so sorry!" she cried as Leonidas stumbled, gasping for breath as he regained a little color in his face. "I-I didn't know it was you and I usually only do that to Coco and-and I-oh, I am such an idiot!"

"It-" Leonidas choked. "It's fine, Vel." The magician took in deep, lungfuls of air to compensate from the brief moment of suffocation. Soon, his complexion returned to its normal color. "Whew...man. That was a pretty effective choke hold. Guess that'll teach me to surprise you like that."

"I'm truly sorry..." Velvet apologized. "I didn't know it was you. My body just reacted and-" A hand placed on top of her head stopped her.

"It's okay Velvet, don't worry about it..." Leonidas smiled at her, being a good head taller than her. The girl promptly blushed under contact. She could feel how thin his fingers were, and how delicate he was in making sure he didn't touch her ears, given how sensitive they were. "Besides, it was kind of my fault. I wanted to surprise you, but I didn't think you'd react like that. So, how is my favorite cute bunny?"

Her cheeks burned. "O-oh, stop!" she whined. "We-we aren't even in a relationship, and you keep teasing me like you're my boyfriend!"

"But I do want to be your boyfriend."

Velvet choked. Did-did he really just say it so easily?! She knew he was cocky, but this?! Just how much confidence did he have?! And he said it with such a straight face too! Oh, god, her face must be so damn red by now! She hoped that Coco didn't-

"Damn, girl... When did you get so thirsty? More importantly, where have you been hiding this hunk?"

Nope. Nevermind. She wanted to crawl in a hole and die now.

Leonidas turned to find a very curious Coco Adel standing behind him, sporting the largest grin on her face. "You must be Coco." he guessed by her appearance, grinning. "Hi. I'm this bunny's pen pal."

"And apparently wants to be her boyfriend." Coco teased, causing Leonidas to turn sheepish and Velvet to bury her face in her hands, steam pouring out of her head. "You're pretty straightforward, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I get that a lot. Mostly from my own team but hey...a man's gotta have confidence, right?"

"True, true." Coco agreed. "But there's a fine line between confidence and cockiness. So tell me..." she tipped her sunglasses down to look him in the eye. "Which are you?"

He tilted his head. "That depends. If I answer wrong, will I find that handbag of yours pounding against my balls? If so, I'd like to give the correct answer."

"You guess correctly." Coco smiled without missing a beat, holding up her handbag to emphasize. "So which is it?"

"I can tell you with complete honesty that it is confidence. I fully intend on making Velvet Scarlatina my girlfriend. That is...if I have your blessing, ma'am."

Coco stared at Leonidas intently, never once changing expressions or positions. Leonidas, likewise, never broke away with the most serious look on his face. Velvet looked back and forth, worried that they may come to blows. That was the last thing she wanted. She liked Leonidas greatly, but she didn't want to see him get into a fight with Coco just because she wouldn't allow it. The woman could be extremely protective and she was fully aware of it. She was practically like a mother hen to Team CFVY.

The staring contest continued before Coco pushed her shades upward and a wide smile touched her face. "Congrats, pretty boy. You pass." Velvet sighed in relief, but then blushed in realization that Coco approved of Leonidas. As in, she was fine with them dating. Not-not that they were right at this moment. His proposal came so out of left field she had no idea how to answer. "Just promise me you won't make me an aunt? I've heard rabbits are kind of wild and pop out kids, so..."

"COCO!" Velvet's face exploded into red while Leonidas laughed. "Just-just because I'm a Rabbit Faunus doesn't mean that I'm like that!"

"Oh my god, Bun-bun, I'm just joking!" Coco giggled. "Cool your jets." She then turned to Leonidas. "But I'm serious. Take good care of my little rabbit girl, otherwise you'll have to answer to the whole team, not just me."

"If I hurt her in any way, I'd be willing to pull the trigger on myself, and then have you pull me back from hell to kill me all over again." Leonidas answered with a serious expression. "The day I hurt her is the day my life is forfeit."

"L-Leonidas..." Velvet muttered, surprised that he was willing to go so far...but was concerned that was serious to this extreme. Did he...really think of her this way?

Drat, now how in the world was she supposed to look him in the eye NOW? Why does he have to go and say such things? She didn't think herself a romantic, but Velvet knew that she felt something towards Leonidas. They had been friends since her days at Combat Academy. Their first meeting had been simple curiosity on her part when she heard that her school would be hosting a school exchange in order to see how they would fair against students from other academies. She ended up being paired with Leonidas, and had remained in contact ever since.

He was a jokester and perhaps a bit of a flirt. But she had never seen him act that way towards anyone else. At least, not that she knew of. He was quite the showoff, taking every opportunity to demonstrate his magic tricks to the world. He was charming and kind to a fault.

Was that, maybe, why she felt some level of attraction? But if so, then what could he have possibly have seen in her? She was just plain ordinary. There was nothing special about her whatsoever. And yet Leonidas thought otherwise and endeavored to get to know her better. He'd call or text her often each week and share stories or ask her how her day's been. It was really sweet of him. He always listened to her words and gave pieces of advice whenever she was troubled. She did the same for him whenever he had an issue to deal with.

Huh. Perhaps there were signs there between them after all, but when had it actually started? What actually made her feel something for him, and him vice versa?

"Well, I'll let you two lovebirds be." Coco turned on her heel and walked away, all the while waving a hand in walking in a strut. "Use protection!"

"COCO!" Velvet squeaked in embarrassment, broken from her reverie. Leonidas just smiled and waved.

"Haha...your friend is quite the character. Now I know what you mean by your descriptions of her."

The Rabbit Faunus groaned and hanged her head low, wishing again that the earth would swallow her whole. "Yeah... She is..."

* * *

After showing Iris around Beacon Academy, Team RWBY and LAPI had decided to take her to the library, on account of Ruby's suggestion after a brief exit to her dorm room to retrieve something. To Weiss' exasperation, she had gone to grab a board game of all things. Iris, on the other hand, looked positively excited to play and joined the silver-eyed girl. It was decided that both teams and Iris would take turns playing, with the first round going to Team RWBY in order for Iris to get the basics of the board game down. Weiss and Blake also turned out to be amateurs, having no idea how to play as well, but Yang was quick to give them tips.

And then promptly crushed one and was decimated after the other when she got done mopping the floor with Ruby.

The second round went to Team LAPI, who were a bit more experienced than the aforementioned amateurs. However, they had also taken to a bit of gambling to add to the stakes, with Prompto tossing in a few couple dollars of Lien into the mix. Noctis and Gladio promptly complied while Ignis remained adamant in his refusal. Noctis proved to be an excellent player at the game, having beaten Prompto in the first turn, but was shortly taken out by Gladio.

And then Ignis beat him in a single fell swoop, all the while smirking as he reaped the rewards, much to the dismay of his fellows.

The third game was well underway, this time a rematch between Ruby and Yang with Noctis and Iris now thrown into the mix.

"Yang Xiao Long," Ruby Rose proudly declared with fervor as she aimed an accusing finger at her sister, dead set on gaining her revenge. "Prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!" Yang fist-pumped.

"Then I shall kick things off with the Atlesian Air Fleet!" She smacked the card onto the board. "Which will allow me fly over your Ursai and attack your walls directly." For added effect, she made airplane noises.

Her sister gasped in horror, then glared in outrage. "You fiend!"

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts one turn."

"Pretty sneaky there, sis." Yang snickered. "But you just activated my trap card," Ruby squeaked as Yang slammed her fist onto the table. "Giant Nevermore! If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

"But if you roll a six of lower, the Nevermore will turn against your own forces!" The team leader argued.

"Well. That's a chance I'm willing to take." The blonde brawler rolled the dice. The multi-faced object tumbled and rolled before stopping on the number 13. "Hah!"

"NOOOOOOO! MY FEARLESS SOLDIERS...!" Ruby cried in dismay, slamming her head on the tabletop. "MY REVENGE!"

Prompto rolled his eyes. "And I thought she couldn't be a bigger drama queen." he said nonchalantly. "I think she's even worse than when she got creamed the first time around."

"Well to be fair, Yang decimated her her forces on the first turn alone and placed her in a major disadvantage." Ignis commented as he turned the page of a recipe book in hand.

"Goodbye my friends." Ruby whispered tenderly to her pieces with tear eyes."You will be avenged."

"Not until I draw my rewards!" Yang declared, her smile utterly feral as she dragged her arm across the table, taking all of Ruby's earnings. "Which are double this round thanks to the Mistral Trade Route!"

Her sister made a face. "Bah!"

"Oh, and what's this?" Yang twisted the knife further as she revealed a card in her hand. "The Smugglers of Wind Path?"

"Bah! Bah, I say!"

"I say, it looks like I'm taking two cards in my hand!"

Irisi sweatdropped. "Wow, Yang. You're, um, surprisingly savage towards your sister."

"Hey." Yang grinned. "All's fair in love and war."

"And technically, were in a simulated war." Noctis agreed. "Well, now that she's done with her turn, I'm up next. "I'll start off with Resourceful Raider, taking Ruby's air fleet into my hand."

"Noooo..." She groaned.

"Then I play Sandstorm to disable your ground forces, Yang. And since Vacuo soldiers have defense against natural disasters, my forces are safe while I infiltrate your Kingdom."

"Nicely played Noct...if I didn't have my trap card."

Noctis gave her a smirk. "You sure 'bout that?"

"What?!" She gasped as he placed another card on the field.

"Counter trap, Deception. Your reconnaissance agents received false intel, causing you to plan a counter strike for a fake assault, spreading your forces too thin, allowing my troops to swoop in and capture your bases."

"NOOOOO!"

Ruby smirked as Yang watched as Noctis reaped his own benefits from her, which he further added insult to injury with a few other cards. "How's it feel getting squished, Yang?" she taunted.

"Sh-shut up, Ruby!"

"Looks like it's an epic showdown between the Heir to the Amicitia Family and the Crowned Prince of Lucis!" Prompto said after Noctis finished his turn, passing the baton to Iris. "Who will win?!"

"Ten buck says its Noctis." Gawain threw his lot in.

Edan shrugged. "I'll take that action."

"I say it will be Iris." Gladio put in his bet, having faith in his sister.

"I think Ruby still has a chance. She's playing as Atlas." Weiss said.

"But she already lost her fleet." Ignis countered. "And please don't say she has a chance of getting back up simply because of historical facts. This is a board game I must remind you."

"Ah, whatever Iggy." Prompto rolled his eyes. "I'm going with Iris too!"

Noct looked at his friends with mock hurt. "My own bodyguards, betting against me. Oh, the humanity." he said dully before turning to Iris. "Welp, looks like its your turn now, Iris. Try to go easy on me, yeah?"

"I'll try to~" Iris winked at him. "I've got a killer hand, I think!"

"Looks line fun. You mind if we join in?"

The group turned behind them to find Sun and Neptune approaching, the latter of whom looked to be utterly exhausted. "Hey, boys." Blake nodded at them. "How did cleaning go?"

"Tiring." the blue-haired teen said, sounding as exhausted as he looked. "So, so tiring. Not even the food fights in Haven are this bad. Is it a Vale thing?"

"Nah." Prompto shook his head. "I'd say it's just what happens when you involve Teams RWBY and JNPR. Speaking of them, how are they? They squeaky clean after getting pelted with all kinds of food?"

"Sort of." Sun shrugged his shoulders. "They're just busy resting up. Not that I blame 'em. You guys totally wrecked them!" He then looked at the table and grinned. "Ooh, Remnant: The Game, huh?! Mind if I join in?"

"Wait your turn." Edan told the Monkey Faunus. "We're waiting to see who wins, the Shield's little sister or the Prince."

"Sorry, who are you?" Sun asked him, having never met before. He could tell by his uniform that he was obviously from Atlas, and judging by the custom look, he had a feeling he was a member of Gawain's team.

"Edan Lazuli. And you are...?"

"Sun Wukong, leader of Team SSSN. And before you ask, no, I did not come up with that name. Blame that on Headmaster Lionheart. Man is uncreative!"

"Well, ain't that a coincidence? We have another example of a similar circumstance with Ruby Rose over here and her team, Team RWBY." Gawain pointed out, gesturing to the girls. Ruby and Yang noticed them and waved, to which Neptune and Sun waved back.

"You said Lionheart, correct? I heard stories about him during his time as a full-fledged Huntsman. They say he was a stalwart tower, unflinching in the face of danger and terror." Edan asked. "I imagine he was quite the warrior back then."

Sun shrugged. "Dunno, haven't had much time to talk with him. He's pretty swell, though. By the way, how you doing Gawain?" he asked the red-haired teen. "I mean, last time I saw you, you kinda got your ass kicked. No offense."

"None taken." Gawain chuckled. "And I'm fine. If anything, after that bout with Devil, my pride is a little sore, but I intend to even the score. Especially since there's going to be a White Fang rally here."

Edan's eyes narrowed. "Gawain!" he hissed.

The leader of Team GLAE's eyes widened when he realized his slip up and rubbed the back of his head. "Um, please forget you heard that." he pleaded with them sheepishly. In the background, Gladio and Prompto smirked as Weiss grumpily pulled out a few Lien while Noctis joined Yang and Ruby in the losers corner after Iris, with a cheery smile, took all the rewards and asserted Mistral's dominance. "After what happened at the docks and my big mouth, the General isn't really happy with me."

"Don't worry, already forgot it!"

Blake, on the other hand, looked intrigued by Gawain's words and put a hand to her chin. _'A rally?'_ Her mind raced back to the events at the docks. Devil working with Roman, the White Fang's current direction of leadership, everything about that night was still fresh in her mind. Something was out of place. She was missing something. A piece of the puzzle that wasn't in her grasp. _'But what is it?'_

There was definitely an inconsistency that wasn't adding up. Sienna Khan made it clear that outside of Lucis, the White Fang would have no other affiliation with humans to ensure Faunus equality outside of Lucis. Yet the Vale Branch showed that Devil was collaborating with a criminal, a human criminal like Roman Torchwick. And Devil has made it clear that he absolutely HATES humans. So why?

Furthermore, their agenda was stealing Dust. Sure some of Sienna Khan's operations were stealing Dust from organizations that used Faunus Labor and/or discriminated in sales against Faunus, but they never needed as much as that freighter-class shipment. Even then, they made sure that each mission had no casualties on either side. The White Fang trying to assert their point and desire for equality, not murder humans to paint a worse image of themselves.

Yet Devil had no qualms of massacring every last human guard on site. If they hadn't arrived in time, he would've killed Gawain as well. Something about all of this just didn't seem right. And she was going to get to the bottom of all this. But at this line of thinking, she casted a glance at her team. Ruby and Yang were around Iris as they took the time to switch for the next round. Weiss and Neptune were talking to one another, the former's cheeks tinged pink as he gave a chaste kiss to her knuckles.

Ruby was right when she said that they were going after terrorists. And more importantly, Devil would clearly have no qualms about killing the if given the opportunity. Especially Weiss, given her status as a Schnee.

Could she really want to get them involved? Wouldn't it just be better if she went at this alone? Then she scoffed at the idea, realizing that such a statement would be utterly useless. Ruby had made it abundantly clear that she would do anything and everything she could to help people. If she wanted to, she would easily butt in with her own affairs if it meant she could help her.

Not to mention...she doubted she could handle Devil on her own. The man would kill her without a second thought. And his semblance...to be able to control fire to that degree...it was just unworldly.

Just who in the world even was this Flaemis? Where did Sienna even find him?

* * *

Ever since news reached the splinter cell in the White Fang that Devil had outright slaughtered every guard at the docks, barring two and that he had even attempted to kill Blake, her friends and the Prince of Lucis, Adam had been utterly livid. For the past week, he had been attempting to reach Sienna Khan, but it was only now that he was finally free to give the woman a piece of his mind. He didn't care what excuses she had, he was going to rip her a new one.

Trailing behind him was the newest recruit, Ilia, who had a look of uncertainty. "A-are you okay, sir?" she asked timidly, not daring to say anything that might anger him. He already seemed livid enough as is.

"No, I am not." he growled, his hand never once leaving his blade.

The two eventually stopped when they reached the entrance to the throne room, which was flanked by two guards. "I'm sorry, Taurus." one of the guards walked up to him and held out a hand to stop the Kingsglaive. "But you'll have to wait outside for a few minutes."

"Why? So Sienna can think up of an excuse?" Adam glared at the man underneath his mask.

He would have continued further, but a series of crashes emanated inside the Throne Room, which elicited confused reactions from the two. The guard sighed deeply. "Actually, it's to prevent the High Leader from accidentally hurting a Glaive." he admitted with some shame. The sound of something shattering, followed by a hate-filled roar came next and the ground shook slightly. "She's been like this ever since she ordered Flaemis to return to Mistral to face his punishment."

"What happened?" Ilia asked.

The guard grimaced. "He refused and hasn't responded to any further messages." he told her, causing her to balk. "He's since been labeled a rogue, but it hasn't just been him. We haven't been able to contact any of our brothers and sisters in the Vale branch in the White Fang within the last few days."

"You mean to say that the entire Vale Branch of the White Fang defected along with Flaemis?!" Adam questioned in shocked.

Another crash was heard.

"...Yes. That is precisely why the High Leader is quite angry right now. Believe me, Taurus, she loathes this situation just as much as you do." the other guard said with a grimace as her thin tail flicked. "Also, she's been at this for the last seven hours. She should be done within the hour or so."

The Kingsglaive recruit sweatdropped. "I hate to be anyone inside with her right now." she whispered. While unlike Adam she didn't have as much of a close history with the White Fang, she did feel his indignation how someone was ruining everything Sienna, Krimzen and Ghira had worked hard to create over the years. "Has she said anything about what she intends to do now? From what I heard, High Leader Khan doesn't take betrayal lightly, and she's been looking for an excuse to get at Flaemis."

"Unfortunately, no." the first guard shook his head somberly. "She and Glaive Commander Belladonna are meeting later this evening to discuss a plan of action."

Adam frowned heavily as he folded his arms. "I suppose that's something at least..." he muttered under his breath. The main highlight of this clusterfuck was that now they had a perfectly good excuse to go after Flaemis. Unfortunately, this chance only came about AFTER forever tarnishing the hard work of Sienna, his father, and Ghira.

He swore right then and there, that when he found Devil, he would deliver retribution personally.

* * *

After the festivities were done and over with and Edan and Gawain had to return back to the hotel for the time being, Team LAPI had taken her to the makeshift dorms that were made available to her and her school, Team RWBY had returned to their room. "Ugh, we should have never let Neptune play." Yang groaned as she fell face first on her bed. "He's just as bad as Noct!"

"You're just upset that he has a tactical mind and beat you soundly in the first turn." Weiss grinned smugly as she walked in after her. Blake remained silent throughout the conversation, her thoughts focused on current events.

Ruby noticed how Weiss seemed to speak of Neptune so oddly. It sounded as if she were interested in him. But that couldn't be right, could it? After all, when has Weiss shown an interest in anybody besides studying? Well, if studying could be called a person. As if sensing Ruby's thoughts, Weiss felt annoyance run through her and gave the red-hooded girl a small glare, which made her recoil.

Was her partner psychic or something?

"...you've been oddly quiet, Blakey." Yang called out to her own partner, snapping her out of her thoughts. "C'mon, spill it. What's wrong?"

Blake was about to say it was nothing, but she soon realized by the looks she was receiving that her team would likely call her out on it and sighed. "I've just been...thinking about the White Fang lately." she admitted, rubbing her arm. "What happened back at the docks is still on my mind, and I've been trying to push it aside, but ever since Gawain mentioned there'd be a rally, I guess I just remembered..."

"I do hope you're not thinking of going at this alone again." Weiss said flatly. "Need I remind you that we were not only woefully unprepared, but outmatched? We were lucky Penny and Gawain were there, otherwise that whole situation could have ended far worse. And that's to say nothing about that weird monster that His Highness fought off."

"I know, I know." Blake sighed again. "But, the White Fang is...important to me."

"Why's that?" the blonde brawler asked. "Were you a member or something?"

The Cat Faunus smiled sadly. "Not quite. My father was one of its founders." she revealed, shocking the three girls. "He and Krimzen Taurus were the original leaders of the movement. But, as the White Hoods started to become more aggressive after Lucis appeared, and when the Anti-Lucian Federation was formed, my father eventually decided to step down and join the Kingsglaive. Sienna Khan took over, and you know how it goes. The White Fang turned to force. They vandalized stores that refused to service Faunus, stole Dust shipments, the whole nine yards. But they never became excessively violent. Sienna knew that, if they struck too hard, people would just hate the Faunus even more to the point where they'd openly attack us."

"And then Devil came into the picture." Weiss guessed with a dark look in her eyes. "And suddenly, the White Fang was started being seen as a terrorist organization."

Blake nodded, ears drooped. "I want to forget about all of this. Like Ruby said, we don't have any reason to get involved in this sort of stuff. And Devil? He wouldn't hesitate to kill us." She bit her bottom lip, gripping the fabric of her sleeve even tighter. "Even so, I..."

"You want him to face justice...for all the wrong he brought the organization your dad helped create." Weiss deduced.

Blake nodded. "Knowing that he's out there, a rogue agent at that, makes things even worse. There's nothing stopping him now. And he'll only drag the White Fang's name through the mud even further." She sucked in a breath. "I need to stop him. I know, it's stupid, and I might get myself killed, but I-!"

"We're in."

She choked. She looked up and found that it was Yang who said that, her face dead serious. Ruby shared a similar face, if perhaps looking rather excited at the prospect of taking down a terrorist organization after their success at the docks. Weiss' eyes were steely, face set into a stone expression that spoke volumes of her own determination.

"W-what...?"

"I said," Yang repeated. "We're in."

"But...but why? All told me the other day that we were in over our heads on this! That we're dealing with killers and could actually die from this! That we're not ready to handle these kinds of threats!"

"That may be true...but doing this on your own doesn't make things better. Yes, we might be in over our heads, yes we might be dealing with murderers, but we're a team. Did you expect that we would let you go through with this alone?" Weiss countered.

"But...but...!"

"No buts!" Ruby intercepted, dashing over in a flurry of rose petals and hushing Blake with a finger on her lips. "This is my decision as Team Leader of RWBY! We're going after the White Fang! Or, well, Devil or whatever his real name is! And that's final!"

Blake wanted to argue, but the look on her friends' faces told her everything. Several emotions ran through her mind at this moment, too many to understand or feel.

She did understand one thing, however.

 _'If Adam finds out I did this, he'll so murder me...'_

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 _ **Chapter: END**_

* * *

 **Next Time: ...We Fall**


	20. Chapter 20

The incident had caused quite a lot of attention for Beacon and for Ozpin especially. A mere minute before James entered his office he finished his call with the Council, who were more than displeased with the outcome. He did his best to argue for their case, but the actions performed last night were hardly exemplary. He tried his best, but their decision, and Atlas' decision, was quite firm. His hands were tied, as it were.

"Oz, you and I both know why I can't let those girls go." Ironwood said, his voice firm. His body language indicated even he felt a pang of sympathy for the poor girls, but he was honor bound to his decision. "They may be children, yes, and they may be training to become Huntresses, but what happened on that highway-"

"As much as I understand the people's concerns..." Ozpin cut him off, speaking in the utmost seriousness. "Those girls stopped what would have been a bad situation. Several White Fang members, who have all been reported to have gone rogue mind you, were captured and a stolen Atlesian Paladin was destroyed before it could cause severe damage."

Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "But as the public also pointed out, people were either seriously injured or killed. For Gods' sakes, Oz, there was even video footage of what happened!"

"And pray tell, what do you expect me to do, James? Give these girls' parents a call and tell them that they accidentally killed people while attempting to stop a terrorist's plot?!"

"They had no right to intervene!"

"Gentlemen, please." Ozpin felt his hands tighten and Ironwood's form went ramrod straight. Entering the office was an unexpected guest, followed by a young man with cherry red hair and gold eyes. "Must we bicker and argue like children?" Ardyn asked, a whimsical smile on his face. "Yes, lives were lost, as the dear General was so kind to inform, but wouldn't you say those lives were also lost for the greater good?"

Both headmasters choked at his words. James looked even worse. "I beg your pardon, High Councilman?!" He stared at Ardyn as if he had grown a second head. "Necessary- There is no such thing as a necessary sacrifice!"

"With all due respect, this Devil fellow has proven himself to be quite dangerous." the man countered, holding a finger in Ironwood's face. "Imagine all the wanton destruction he would have caused with that stolen Paladin. Also, in case you are so quick to forget, they are children." He stressed the word, putting a strong emphasis as he waved a hand. "Children who can, and will learn from their mistakes. Learn from them and be better. Besides, it will serve as a good chance for them to reflect. I can name several instances in which Huntsmen suffer from an event that causes a lapse in judgement. It will be good experience for the!"

"C-Councilman Izunia, are you actually-"

"Consider Team RWBY officially pardoned and returned to your custody, my dear man." Ardyn smiled, leaving a baffled and shocked Ironwood and a stunned Ozpin. "So long as they don't repeat this little incident, I believe we can put this all behind us."

"N-now wait a moment!"

Ardyn didn't. He gave the two men a wave and turned on his heel and left the office, Leonidas following behind him before bowing respectfully towards the two men. They stared at one another, surprised and thrown for a loop by Ardyn's decision. He was willing to release them, in spite of what happened? But why? What on Earth was he thinking? More importantly, why risk outing himself like that? Even if he were a High Councilman, pardoning Team RWBY for their actions on the highway would surely put him under scrutiny from the rest of the Council in Atlas. It could even risk him losing his position.

Just what on Remnant was Ardyn Izunia thinking...?

* * *

 **Final Fantasy XV x RWBY Crossover:** **  
** _ **"Of Crystal Shards and Dust"**_

* * *

 **Chapter XIII: Hitting the Town**

"Let the Investigation...Begin!" Ruby cheered as she jumped off her suspended bed.

"I'm glad that you're taking this so seriously." Weiss sarcastically commented.

The wait had been agonizing for Team RWBY, between gathering all the information they could and preparing themselves for whatever was to come from this operation. Naturally, they had to keep this a secret from everyone else, including the prince and his friends as well as Team JNPR. It wasn't that they trusted them; it was just that they needed fewer people to get involved in case things went south. Additionally, on both Ruby and Blake's suggestion, they do some makeshift modifications to their weapons and stock up on ammunition. Ruby was happy to do some maintenance on their weapons, Yang's especially since it had been a while since she last gave Ember Celica a tune up. On Yang's recommendation, and much to their chagrin, they were also wearing the clothes she had bought them during their shopping trip following the events at Forever Fall.

"Let's go over what we know, first." Blake said. Everyone nodded and went over all the information they had on hand. "First, we know Torchwick is cooperating with the White Fang, but the person in charge of things here in Vale is Devil, who hates humans with a passion."

"Why they're cooperating is a mystery." Weiss bobbed her head in agreement. "As is to why they require so much Dust in the first place. To the best of my knowledge, the White Fang has only stolen small installments and supplies, but never an entire shipment. It's almost as if they're preparing for something big."

Yang added to the conversation. "There's also what was said on the news on how Devil's posse went rogue, so the High Leader doesn't have any control over him. Plus, it seemed like even she was getting fed up, so maybe Devil's been working on his own."

"Or maybe Devil and Torchwick are working under someone." Ruby suggested. "That night back during the Dust Robbery, there was some woman guarding his airship. She was able to stop Ms. Goodwitch, too! Maybe she's got them under her thumb!"

"That's a possibility. Or maybe she is another accomplice. We can't say for certain right now." Blake replied.

"For everything else though, that is as far as we know." Weiss continued. "And this operation will hopefully shed more light on this mystery. Everyone remember their roles?"

"As we heard from Gawain, the White Fang here in Vale is holding a Rally for new recruits. If I can get in, I might learn more about what Torchwick and Devil have in store." Blake spoke her part.

"I know a guy in the shady part of town who knows anything and everything going on in the Kingdom. Seeing as I know him and the place, I'll go and find any information regarding those two as well." Yang added.

Ruby spoke next. "And Weiss and I will be heading to the CCT to look up and records of stolen dust shipments and property."

"Seeing as how I am the Schnee heiress, I should have access to any Dust cargo shipment records and other classified information that will help out search." Weiss concluded.

"Then are we ready to do this?" Ruby asked everyone. "And nobody knows what we're doing, right?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that about the last one." The group jumped and turned around to find Sun present outside their window, tail wrapped around the branch and hanging upside down. "You guys really should invest in noise-proofing. Or at the very least close your window!"

Blake gasped. "Sun? What're doing here?!" She paused. "Scratch that, what are you doing outside our bedroom?!"

"Oh, this? I do this all the time!"

Weiss seethed. "Excuse me?!"

"Huh." Yang blinked. "So, he's a stalker slash pervert. Who knew?"

Sun's cheeks turn red. "No, not like that!" he said as he swung inside their room. "I mean, I hang around trees! They're nice and quiet places to hang out! Nevermind that, what's this about you guys going after the pyro?"

"We're not going after Flaemis. WE'RE going to be searching for information to uncover his plans...as a TEAM." Blake stated firmly, emphasizing on the word team.

"We're really sorry about this, Sun. But we don't want to get friends involved." Ruby apologized.

"Pft. That's dumb. You should totally get friends involved. That's why I brought along Neptune." The Faunus jerked a thumb out the window, prompting the girls to look outside to see the blue haired teen out on the window sill.

"Sup?" He greeted.

"How...how did you even get up here?!" Weiss exclaimed in surprise.

"I have my ways..." he answered smoothly before his expression shifted to one of anxiety. "But seriously though, can I come in? We're like...really high up right now." Ruby rolled her eyes, but complied and helped him inside. He looked visibly relieved as he nearly fell to the floor. "Okay, so, what's this about hunting down a murderous Faunus gone nuts?" he asked. "And more importantly, why are we getting involved in this? Shouldn't we leave this sort of stuff up to the police, or I dunno, the Kingsglaive?"

"One, the Kingsglaive don't have much authority here in Vale." Blake told him.

"Why not? I thought they were like Huntsmen."

"While Kingsglaive do have skills and abilities that rival, sometimes even surpass, Huntsmen due King Regis' magic, they are more akin to a military force. Lucis' military force. Since their main affiliation is in Lucis, they don't have authority to properly apprehend criminals in other Kingdoms outside of Lucis. And two, I doubt the police would even help much. If anything...Devil would massacre every single officer in the Kingdom without a shred of remorse." Blake answered morbidly.

Sun blanched a little. "And, you girls decided to go after his group...why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do!" Ruby chirped. "I mean, it'll be pretty bad if we leave him alone, things will turn out pretty badly, right?"

"Yeah, but after what we saw at the docks? That guy isn't playing around. You guys could get killed!"

"Maybe...But Huntsmen and Kingsglaive risk their lives every day for every mission. And we are training to be Huntresses. This is just getting used to the danger." Yang answered. "Besides...we can't just ignore what that guy has done. For some of us...it's personal." Her eyes briefly shifted over to Weiss and Blake.

Weiss' eyes hardened and the other clenched her fists.

"So that's it. That's why we're going to stop them. If you two want to back out now, no one's stopping you." Yang told Sun and Neptune, who stood speechless as her answer.

The two shared a look, clearly uncertain. Sun's eyes shifted, and Neptune sighed, palming his face before he shook his head. "If we get killed," he said with a glare. "I will find a way to bring you back to life, and haunt your ass for all of eternity. You understand?"

"What?! Didn't you guys just hear what we said?" Blake asked. "It's incredibly dangerous. We don't want friends to get involved."

"Well, if this Devil guy is incredibly dangerous, and you four are going after him, then you're going to need all the help you can get." Sun answered. "Besides, if he is working with Torchwick, I want some payback for my tail." Sun gingerly rubbed his golden tail, which had been crushed during the battle at the docks. Now it was fully healed, but thinking about it still brought phantom pains. "Besides, way I see it, you guys could use all the help you could get."

Blake bit her lip. This wasn't how she pictured things would go. It was bad enough that Team RWBY had jumped on the band wagon, but she thought it was natural for them to do so, given how they were. But Sun and Neptune? Strangers. They had no reason to get involved in this mess. Especially not Neptune, who had no connection or reason to get involved whatsoever. She wanted to try and dissuade them, but the look on Sun's face told her otherwise.

She gave up and groaned. "Just, please don't do anything stupid, okay?" she pleaded. "We're in deep water as it is."

"Psh, we'll be fine!" Sun said. "So, what's the plan?"

"Me and Weiss are heading to the CCT to try and get some info on any stores and shipments that might've been stolen." Ruby said. "Yang's going to go see someone in Vale who might have an idea what's going on, and Blake's going to a White Fang rally and see what's up."

"Welp, I'm a Faunus, so I guess I'm going with Blake." Sun shrugged. "My first meeting with terrorists. This should be fun!"

"And I'll go with Neptune!" Weiss said, perhaps a little too eagerly.

"What?! I thought we were going to go together." Ruby pouted.

"Well, wouldn't you want to go with Yang since she's your sister?"

"But I wanted to see the CCT!" Ruby revealed her true motives. "Besides! What can Neptune help you with?...No offense."

"None taken, actually. But if you want to know, I'm more or less the tech guy of our team. I help maintain our equipment, and I'm a pretty good hacker. There isn't a single computer that can keep me out. And if there is, then cracking it doesn't take very long." He bragged. But his tone of voice made it seem he wasn't kidding. "If you need to dig up more info, I can lend a hand."

"So you're not just a pretty face. You're also a nerd." Yang commented.

"I fancy myself more as an intellectual."

"Then I guess it's settled." The blonde brawler then grabbed Ruby by the collar of her hood. "C'mon, Rubes! Time's a wastin'!"

"But the CCT..." she whined.

"You can see it another time." Yang dragged her out the door.

Ruby vanished, still attempting to flee in spite of the iron grip on her cloak. Blake, Sun, Weiss and Neptune watched with befuddled faces before they all shrugged. "Well then," Neptune smiled as he performed a mock bow. "Shall we get going, Snow Angel?"

"You charmer..." Weiss smiled before she followed him out the door.

Blake blinked, as if confused by what she just saw before she turned to Neptune. "...does he always do that?"

"Honestly, kind of." Sun admitted. "But that's the first time he's ever given someone a nickname. Either he finds her very attractive...or my worst fears have come true and my partner has finally found the woman of his dreams."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Blake commented with a quirked brow.

"If you knew Nep as well as I do, Blake, then you'd know why I'm so freaked out."

* * *

"So this is the CCT..." Neptune commented as the two approached the tower. "Looks different than the one in Mistral, that's for sure."

"You should see the one in Atlas." Weiss said with a small bit of pride. "It was first one that was built!"

"I know. It's also one of the more defended ones, right?" Neptune asked, earning a nod. "Been wanting to go see that one, actually."

"Hopefully not to hack it."

Neptune chuckled. "Nothing like that. Besides, I'm pretty sure if I did that, I'd be a wanted criminal in a heartbeat." The two entered the CCT's main lobby, with Neptune waving at a few people in order to act on the illusion before they slipped into the elevator before anyone else could. Weiss slid her Scroll across the screen and asked the AI to take them to the comms room.

"How'd you get into hacking anyway?"

The blue-haired teen shrugged. "Eh, I messed around with electronics when I was kid. Started with toys, then moved on to TV remotes, then to TVs, then finally Scrolls. Before I knew it, I knew how to bust into someone's account. Growing up in Mistral, you tend to learn a few things." A somber looked crossed his eyes, a downcast expression overshadowing his face. "Especially if you live in one of the more shadier parts."

"Wait, you grew up in the outskirts of the Kingdom?" Weiss asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah. Because Mistral was so big, the Council and Huntsmen couldn't reach out to every corner. Some of them became breeding grounds for less savory characters and hotspots for shady dealings. Me? I was just unlucky growing up in one of them. It wasn't all bad. My parents are nice and we did what we could to get by. Then I got into hacking to try and help bring some food to the table." he told her easily. Considering his background, he did everything he could to make himself more seemly.

Better than the rifraff many thought he was when he was a kid. To that end, he crafted an image that appealed to everyone. Especially the girls, since most of the time he ran into those that loved the cool type. That being said, though, he actually liked Weiss' company. She wasn't one of those girls you could easily swoon. Sure, she was flattered and all, but at best, she just thought of him as a friend. At worst, she probably thought he was someone going after her because of her status as an heiress. "Of course, it also led to a few troubles. Especially when you try hacking into one of the Huntsman Academies."

Weiss spluttered. "What?!"

"It-it's a long story. One that apparently impressed Professor Lionheart to the point where he offered me a scholarship, which mind you also lets you live in the upper parts of the Kingdom. I took him up on that offer the second he told me about it." Neptune then snickered and shook his head. "And it was right after that that I ended up meeting Sun. Let me tell you, that guy was-" He stopped abruptly when the elevator jolted a little, and its ascent stopped. "And here we are..."

The doors of the elevator slid open, revealing the vast array of computers, terminals, and monitors within the CCT's top floor. They quickly found an open terminal in the corner of the room, free from potential prying eyes.

"Here we go..." Neptune slid into the seat and looked around. "Hand me your Scroll for a minute, if you would."

"What're you going to do?"

"A bit of double working." he answered as she handed it to him. "Keep an eye out for anyone who thinks we're causing trouble, yeah?" Weiss nodded and looked around the room, though she tried to make it look natural. Meanwhile, Neptune flicked on his goggles and took out something from his pocket. It looked like wires of some kind, connected to a drive. Slipping the wires into his Scroll and then into Weiss, he inserted her Scroll into the terminal. The screen glitched for a moment, covered in snowy static before it turned dark blue with bits of data sprawled across the screen. "Alright, Jacques my friend. Let's see how good your security system is."

His fingers flew across the keyboard, typing in what appears to be random strings of code from out outside perspective. His goggles briefly lit up at random intervals in accordance to his input commands. Aside from being functional pieces of eye-wear, they functioned as a supplementary tool to his hacking, allowing him to search through and highlight specific lines of code.

Weiss took brief peeks at his handiwork, honestly confused by the stream of input commands shown on screen and how they made sense. Neptune remained focused on his work as the masking program within his drive and Scroll prevented his handiwork from being immediately traced. He soon reached the Schnee Dust Corporation mainframe.

"So our focus is on any Dust Shipments over the past few months and anything related to them, right?" The hacker asked as he worked through a series of encryptions.

"That's right."

"Okay, then. That'll simplify things."

He was maybe a minute in before he started to encounter some resistance. His face soon dropped into disappointment. There was hardly any sort of defense whatsoever. Really, what kind of firewalls did this guy install? Even a kid could've hacked into his company's database and swipe everything! Part of him wanted to break into the man's own personal bank account just to spite him, but he refrained as he didn't want to cause Weiss any additional trouble.

In another minute, Neptune broke through the firewalls and smirked. "Alright, we're in." he announced to Weiss, whose eyes widened. "Your old man really needs to invest in better software protection. I count at least ten different ways I could've broken into his account just through the company's database. Now, let's see here, where are the shipping manifests and reports...?"

"They should be under the company transaction records. All orders for Dust and any deals pertaining to them are filed away under that file."

"Got it." In a matter of seconds he found the section they were looking for and proceeded to download the files. As they took place, however, he found one other section that caught his attention. "Classified transactions? Hey Weiss, do you know anything about this?" He gestured to the section he found.

Weiss frowned and leaned in, reading what was on the screen. Then her eyes widened in disbelief, her heart sinking. She had suspected that her father had taken up shady, underhanded dealings in the past and even now...but here it was. Solid evidence staring right back at her.

"Is..." Neptune swallowed the lump in his throat. "Is this what I think it is?"

"I'm...I'm afraid it is..." She whispered morbidly. Then her eyes shifted over to one lone data file at the bottom of the section. "...white...silence...?"

"Want me to check it out?" Weiss nodded, almost afraid to actually speak. Neptune nodded and tried to access it. When he did, however, the screen began to fizzle red. Immediately, he scowled. "Ah, shit."

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"Looks like I tripped a bug. Jacques put a firewall, and its way high-end. Whatever's in that file, he REALLY doesn't want anyone to know." His fingers were flying across the keyboard at a lightning fast pace. Weiss could barely keep track of his hands, but she saw that Neptune was starting to get nervous. "I got maybe thirty seconds to crack this thing before security notices me. But why the hell did he put so much security on just one file?"

Weiss had no idea. However, she warranted a guess that whatever was inside "White Silence," it was clearly something he didn't want anyone to find. She casted another glance around the room and immediately panicked when she saw someone coming toward them. "Can you back out?! Someone's coming!" she whispered urgently. "Did you copy the files?!"

"Yeah. One second...!" As much as he would have liked to break into Jacques' deepest darkest secrets, he wasn't here to make a point. He cut off the link between his and Weiss' scrolls and removed the uplink and stashed it away from his pocket. Taking a glance at the person coming toward them, he put on a quick show and flashed a smile before he handed Weiss her Scroll back. "Here you go, my friend. No bugs or malware whatsoever."

"Uh...thanks? Good to know...?" The man looked at them oddly before taking a seat. Neptune breathed a sigh of relief as he and Weiss reconvened at the Elevator.

Once the doors closed, Weiss swatted his arm. "Really? No bugs or malware?"

"Sorry, I panicked." he said. "Anyway, I was able to pull out before anyone noticed me. But they will know that I tried breaking into that file, so either way, your dad might consider getting better protection software."

"Well, at least we got what we came for." She sighed.

"Sorry about that. I couldn't crack the file. If only I had more time."

"It's fine." She had more pressing concerns to deal with. Especially after what she just read.

 _'Just what on Remnant is father thinking, working with those maniacs?!'_

* * *

Ruby thought she would die out on the battlefield or at least saving someone. It would have been a glorious end to her legend. A story that would be passed down for ages to come, a heroic tale that would live up to her mother's legacy for certain.

Instead, she was going to die pathetically. Nothing could be more anti-climactic than trying not to die and get flung off a motorcycle being driven by a maniac.

"Y-YANG! SLOW DOWN!"

"No way! Well get there faster at this speed!" She replied happily as she zoomed down the roads.

Ruby clung to her sister for dear life, screaming her head off to the point where her throat felt sore. What the hell was she thinking?! Why couldn't she have gone with Weiss or Blake?! Granted, the last one involved a Faunus rally, but she could've passed herself off for one dammit! Curse her partner for developing a crush on Neptune! When Yang swerved around to slide around a curve, she felt her body tilt and nearly slid off the seat.

"SLOW DOWN!" she begged. "SLOW DOWN, PLEASE!"

Thankfully, slowing down was no longer necessary. Yang swiveled to a halt, tires skidding across the ground. Yang let out a whoop as she pulled herself off her bike. "Nailed it." she grinned before she looked at Ruby. "Hey, sis. You might want to close your mouth. You'll let flies in." She was awfully tempted to take a picture. The frazzled and terrified look on her face was priceless, as was the state of her hair. So out of place and messy! "Come on, Junior's place is right across the street!"

"...okay." was all Ruby said before she, in a shambled state, stumbled off the bike and after Yang, her entire body shaking.

 _'Note to self, NEVER drive with Yang. EVER.'_

* * *

Business was slow. Agonizingly slow. Normally, any other day, Junior would be greatly annoyed, but today he was just enjoying the peace and quiet. It had been a few days since he finally got his club back in working order after blondie's last visit, and damn if it wasn't a pain in the ass to repair. So many favors to call in, all because of some blonde bimbo asking around for some chick in a mask.

He honestly had no idea why in the ever loving hell a girl like that was after Raven fucking Branwen of all people, and he didn't want to know. In his line of work, everyone knew who Raven Branwen was, as well as the number one rule regarding the woman. Do not fuck with her, ever. She was a world of trouble, and getting on her bad side would surely end with somebody on the other end of her sword. Whatever reason that chick was after her, he didn't wanna know and kept his nose out of it.

At any rate, since business was slow, he could focus on just running his bar. And if anybody was going to give him trouble or decide to wreck his bar, he would definitely cap their ass. That was for a damn fact. Junior spent his whole life making sure the club was his primary source of revenue, with his info job as more of a side deal. If anyone was going to try and ruin it for him, he would-

"BOSS!"

Junior groaned. "God dammit." He looked towards the entrance of his club, where he found his shit stains of guards barricading the entrance. "The fuck are you idiots doing?!"

"It's her!" one called back frightfully. "She's back!"

"She? She who?"

Before the poor bastard could answer, the front door exploded and pulled right off its hinges. The mooks trying to protect the door were sent flying, one of them smashing into a glass table and shattering it to pieces. Fucker was going to pay for that. At first, Junior couldn't see who did the deed, but as soon as he saw the blonde hair and hourglass figure that women could kill for, he immediately knew who it was.

"Hello, boys~" Yang Xiao Long greeted with a smile, as if she hadn't just destroyed his front door and conveniently forgot she blew this place to pieces. "Miss me?"

Almost immediately, every mook he had on duty pulled up in front of her and aimed their guns. Clearly remembering what happened the last time she came in her, Junior was NOT in the mood to fix up his club a second time, especially when he had so little money left. "Wait, wait!" he shouted at his goons. "Don't shoot, you fucking idiots!" He pulled himself in front of the mob, glaring at Yang, who in turn smiled back at him with that shit-eating grin of hers. "Blonde. You're here. Why?"

"Two things." she said. "One, I need info, and two, you owe me that sundae!"

He attempted to protest, having no desire to get involved with her again, but she waltzed right past him and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him right back to the counter. Ruby watched all this happen with a sweat drop before she looked at Junior's men and bowed her head sheepishly. "I'm...very sorry for my big sister's idiocy." she said bluntly. "Please try to be patient with her."

"It's fine..." one goon sighed heavily, lowering his gun and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "God, she gives me a migraine. I so don't wanna deal with this crap."

"Could be worse." another goon shrugged. "We could be working with the Malachite twins."

"Dude, don't even JOKE about that shit!" The goon shuddered. He went through that hell once. Never. Again.

Meanwhile, Ruby went to follow her sister to make sure she didn't break the bar or something. Thankfully, she hadn't broken Junior. Yet. Still, she felt so exhausted. Was this how Uncle Qrow felt when he needed to drink? Ah, if only she was older. Then perhaps she could try to get drunk herself. Maybe then she wouldn't have such a horrible headache. No, actually, wait. If she did that, she'd have to suffer a migraine later. Such a dilemma!

"Tch, she's here again?" Ruby looked to the side, finding two girls sitting at the far end of the bar, both of whom glaring daggers at Yang. "She has a lot of nerve coming back here after what she did."

"Calm down, sis." the other girl told her. "Junior said not to harm her."

Ruby grimaced. Leave it to her big sister to pick fights and make enemies. Now that she thought about it...wasn't this the bar where she punched Junior through back then? She then recalled the disheveled state the building had been when she saw Yang walk out of it.

 _'Huh. Maybe Nora was right.'_ Ruby thought. _'Maybe we are trouble magnets.'_

* * *

"So, any chance you might be recognized since, you know, you're the founder's kid?" Sun asked as they looked for where the recruitment was being held.

The info they managed to find seemed accurate, though Blake had been worried considering that Tukson had not answered any of her calls in a while. She was starting to get worried. Still, there were plenty of other things to worry about for now. Sun's concern was valid, but she didn't think anyone would. Except perhaps those in the splinter cell.

"No, but it would be troublesome if they saw me wearing my old Glaive uniform." she replied curtly. "The White Fang, or at the very least Sienna's, doesn't have the best relationship with the Kingsglaive."

"Why?" Sun asked, genuinely confused. "I mean, aren't like half of them made up of Faunus?"

"They are. But Sienna feels that while Lucis treats the Faunus fairly, the same can't be said for the rest of the world. Which is why she leads the Fang to make sure equality is found in the other Kingdoms. And the Kingsglaive are obligated to remain as close to Lucis as possible, rather than spread their influence around the other Kingdoms. As a result, Lucis' policy for equality doesn't extend to Kingdoms like Vale or Atlas. In addition to that, Sienna's use of force in her campaigns conflict with my father's ideals of peace. Which, in turn, created tension between them." Blake answered.

"So it's on a conflict of ideals?"

"Essentially. But it runs deeper than that. King Regis wishes to spread Faunus Equality, but it takes time to get the other Kingdoms to understand. Sienna isn't that patient. She wanted to see results soon so all Faunus outside of Lucis can be free of discrimination." She stopped the conversation shortly when she saw three scratch marks etched into a wall. She looked around, and narrowed her eyes when she found a few people, all Faunus, heading behind what looked to be an old building that seemed fairly aged. "There." she pointed. "That should be where the rally is held."

"Alright." Sun nodded. The two then followed the group of people. Sure enough, standing at the entrance was a man wearing the uniform of the White Fang, handing out masks. "Okay, so on the off chance we get recognized in there...what do we do?"

"Book it." Blake said seriously. "Especially if Devil is there. We can't fight him in a head on fight."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Yang growled at Junior, who unlike before was unaffected by her glare and continued to clean his glass. "Last I heard, nothing happens in Vale without you knowing about it."

"I haven't even seen him." Junior repeated for what seemed like the third time. "All I know is that Torchwick came in, paid me, borrowed my men, and none of them ever came back. And ever since word came that he was working with that horned psycho from the Fang, I made it a point not to get involved with him."

"But you lost your men during that night. So there was no further trace of his actions?"

"Hell if I know. Like I said. None of them ever came back. For all I know, they were killed on the job, or Torchwick got rid of them for their incompetence...which is something I can relate to." He directed the last jab at his workers.

"Okay...but what do you know about Devil?" Yang asked next.

"I told you blondie. I'm not getting involved with his mess." Junior's face was set into a frown, lips thinned. "Last time I ever saw that guy was when he and Torchwick needed some men for the job. One of my boys decided to be fucking stupid and tried to arrest that horned psycho, thinking he could get a quick buck. Want to know what happened?"

He leaned in, eyes narrow. "I got a package with a lump of charcoal inside, neatly sliced into tiny pieces. So either somebody opened up a slaughterhouse and sells the stuff by the pound, or..."

Yang and Ruby paled upon learning the implication. They suddenly felt unbridled horror wash over them. Blake was right.

Devil was an absolute monster.

Junior took note of their changed in demeanor and grunted. "Now you get it? I'm through with any deals regarding that psychopath. So are we done here or what?"

"...yeah, we're done." She pulled away from the counter, speed walking towards the club doors. Ruby quickly followed after her.

"Yang...I'm suddenly having second thoughts on this." Ruby gave her honest opinion.

"…Yeah. Me too, Rubes. We just gotta tell the others about this. Blake was right, we might be getting in over our heads on this one." As much as she was a thrill seeker, she refused to place her sister and friends in grave danger.

"Well, hopefully one of the others found something..."

* * *

Getting inside was pretty easy. Far too easy for Blake's liking. All they literally did was slip on the masks and waltz right on in, blending in with the crowd. She searched the room for any possible threats while counting the number of guards. She found a few guarding the only exits, looking rather wary.

Not surprising, given how they went rogue. She felt pity for them, believing that they were doing the right thing when all they were doing was following a madman who was hellbent on killing as many humans as possible.

If only she could make them see the truth.

"This is a lot of people..." Sun whispered as he looked around. "And all of these people know full well that Devil went rogue, right?" Blake nodded. He shook his head. "There's something seriously wrong with these people."

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming!" a White Fang solider, burly with a stylized mask, stepped forward to greet the attendants. "For those of us who are here for the first time, we would like to introduce two special guests. Despite who they are, I can assure you, they are exactly what we need to achieve!"

Blake furrowed her brow. "Two?" Did that mean Torchwick had an accomplice? Her first thought was that strange girl, Neo. She seemed to be close to the man. Perhaps a confidant.

Two people stepped onto the stage. One was Roman Torchwick, wearing a smug grin on his face. And the other...

Blake gasped. "What the hell?" she nearly cried. "What is HE doing here?!"

That skull-themed mask. The tattered cloak. She would recognize those features anywhere. But this made no sense! The White Fang and him were enemies! Why would he be working with Roman Torchwick?!

"Blake, do you know that guy?" Sun asked.

Numb, she nodded and spoke in a low tone. "Yeah. He's one of the high-ranking members of the Anti-Lucian Federation."

"Anti-Luci-what?!" Sun gawked. "But, they're with the White Hoods, right?! The same guys who've been hounding Faunus since, like, forever?!"

"This...doesn't make any sense." Blake agreed with him. "I don't understand. Why is Devil working with someone who hates Faunus just as much as he hates humans?"

The crowd seemed to share her sentiments, only far more vocal. "What the hell are two humans doing here?!" a Deer Faunus roared in outrage. "Especially that son of a bitch?!"

"Thank you!" Roman smiled gleefully, taking every insult in stride. "Please, hold the applause. And we're so glad you asked, dearie!"

The crowd refused to be silent. Each new recruit openly voiced their scathing opinions until the room was filled with incomprehensible angry noise.

Noise that was swiftly silenced by a loud gunshot.

The crowd shut up as they turned to Plague, who had a gun pointed in the air, the barrel smoking. "...thank you for shutting up. If you all continue to behave like irrational children, and hurt my ears with your incessant blathering, then I'll have no qualms about putting a bullet through each of your skulls." His red eyes glowed menacingly.

Blake and Sun felt a chill run down their spines. He had every intention of following through with his threat.

"However..." his tone changed quickly as he holstered his sidearm. "Doing so would be detrimental to our cause. So, consider this your only warning. Roman? If you would?"

"Thank you, Plague." The mobster waltzed up as the terrorist stepped back. "Now, we'll be the first to admit that humans are scum. The absolute worst. Case in point, myself and my dear friend here." he gestured to Plague. "So we understand why a lot of you would like to kick the shit out of us, lock us up, or leave us to hang. But before the claws come out, we would like to mention that you and I all share a common enemy. Who that would be, you might ask?"

He grinned and tipped his hat. "Well, I could name a lot of them. The Headmasters of the Huntsmen Academies. The old fogies running the Councils. Politicians, even! They're who you should blame for your lot in life!" The crowd's unease and anger slowly dimmed. Instead, noises of agreement started to replace the earlier sentiments. "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Lucky for you all..." He took a quick drag of his cigar and grinned. "We're the best exterminators around. No offense to any rodents in the room. Neo, if you would!"

Blake saw the aforementioned woman off to the corner, pulling on the curtain that held the White Fang's symbol on it. It was pulled back to reveal something that filled her with dread. A giant mech, easily three times taller than the average man. It was obviously Atlesian tech, judging by its design. No other Kingdom had access to such technology, except perhaps Lucis.

"This," Plague took over as he rapped his knuckles against the machine's leg. "Is the Atlesian Paladin-290. The latest weapon developed by Atlas. Near the end of the year, these machines will be safeguarding kingdom borders. And we've managed to procure one before they hit the shelves, so to speak."

He then walked up to the crowd, a hand on his hip. "I won't lie. I don't like Faunus. But I don't like humans either. At the end of the day, we're all just scum. The question is, which side do you want to be on? The side that will leave you to rot? Or the side that will break those shackles and teach the idiots a lesson? If you'd rather lead a complacent life, be our guest. But..."

Steam poured out of his mask. Blake could tell that he was looking each and every one of them in the eye underneath that mask.

"...if you're willing to fight, and kill for the opportunity to be free, then this is what we can provide you."

Roman smirked, finishing off their presentation with two words. "Any questions?" Rather than questions, the crowd broke out into cheers and cries of agreement. All except for Blake and Sun.

"...this is bad." Blake told her companion, noting how everyone else in the room seemed on board with this madness.

"We gotta get out of here." Sun whispered to her. But before they could retreat, it seemed like fate had it out for them.

"All new recruits, please step forward!" The Lieutenant announced. Immediately, the crowd of Faunus walked up to the stage.

"Fuck. Now what?" Sun cursed before noticing Roman and Plague's eyes on them. "Shit, I think they see us! What do we do?"

Blake took a quick glance around the room. "Well, assuming Plague isn't secretly a Faunus." She took hold of Gambol Shroud. "He can't see in the dark."

* * *

Jacques Schnee considered himself a rather calm and cool man. Very rarely did he ever lose his composure. Yes, he was prone to fits of anger and frustration, but he was also quick to reign himself in before things became a bit too heated.

This day was not one of those times, as he had just gotten off his Scroll after a long and heated discussion with the Division Chief which culminated in him being fired once he learned that someone had accessed the servers without authorization. He didn't know if they stole anything or if the data had been tampered. All he knew was that someone had accessed the files without any sort of proper access whatsoever.

Naturally, Jacques assumed it had been sabotage. He had a great many competitors, among which was the Rhosyn-Glas Medical Company. Despite the two being of different fields, business was cutthroat. And he would not yield in the slightest.

"Incompetent fools, the whole lot of them." the man muttered as he rubbed his temples.

His mood had been quite sour in the recent days since Weiss had left for Beacon, in spite of his wishes. At best, he could use her as a means of publicity, but at worst, he would have yet another lost cause in his hands. He had such high hopes for Winter before she selfishly chose to find a career in the military, and now it seemed Weiss would disappoint him as well.

Still, it wasn't all bad, though. The project that the High Councilman had introduced him to and entrusted him with was proceeding nicely. Honestly, he couldn't believe what he had on his hands! If this project fell through, they could have a technological breakthrough on their hands! Something that tore down the boundaries between machine and magic! Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? He had received constant reports and updates, and to the best of his knowledge, it seemed that they would be ready in time for the Vytal Festival.

All thanks to the Schnee Dust Corporation. Just thinking of it made him grin.

"That's a disgusting look on your face, old man."

Jacques jumped, whirling around. When he saw who was in his office, he breathed a sigh of relief. "O-oh, it's you, sir..." he said. "I, uh, wasn't expecting you so soon."

"You're behind on your latest shipment by two days." Trinity said coldly, approaching the man's desk. "Have you forgotten our deal?"

"N-no, sir. I was pre-occupied with the task the High Councilman entrusted me with." Jacques said, regaining his composure and straightening himself out. "I'll make sure you receive double the supplies, as an apology."

The armored man seemed surprised, but thought nothing of it further. The man looked to be in a good mood. "I see..." he hummed before he leaned on Jacques' desk. "Still, I don't come here for a social call. I hear your servers had an uninvited guest."

"Yes, unfortunately." Jacques frowned. "Likely someone trying to sabotage my efforts. Nothing to worry about."

"I wouldn't say that. They almost broke into your dirty little secret." Trinity said off-handedly. Jacques immediately went still. "You were lucky I made sure that no one, except for myself and you, are even able to look at what's inside that folder. That being said, I should remind you that in the event your secret comes out to the world, the Anti-Lucian Federation will cease its cooperation with you. Am I clear?"

"Y-Yes sir." Jacques nodded quickly. He could not lose this connection he forged. Not now of all times. He will never let his secret come to light.

"Good. Now then, we expect the promised doubled supplies soon. Do not keep us waiting." Trinity said with finality.

"Of course, sir." Without another word, Trinity turned around and left the room, leaving a tense Jacques alone. Once he was sure that the armored figure was gone, he slumped down his chair in relief.

He was starting to understand why Willow had taken to drinking. He was starting to understand the appeal himself.

* * *

Following Blake and Sun's escape, things had gone to hell. Roman had chased after them in the stolen Paladin, which had led to a chase out in the highway. Sun had attempted to stop him, shortly followed by Neptune, but the two had been thrown off the highway. Team RWBY thought that they would be okay and had taken to fighting the mech, out on the street level.

It had been tense, not to mention nerve wracking. It took an empowered Yang with her Semblance at max to take down the thing in one strike, destroying the entire machine into tiny pieces. Roman spilled out onto the ground, groaning as he got up and dusted off his clothes. "Dammit. And I just got this clean."

"Give it up, Torchwick!" Blake warned him as she and her friends aimed their weapons at him. "Devil isn't here to save you this time! Just give up!"

The mobster chuckled. "Kitty cat, you really have no idea, do you?" he said in a mocking tone. "If you honestly think I'm going to surrender, you must be idiotic. What, do you think that this is a comic book and I just willingly lay down my weapons when you talk me down? Sorry, no dice."

"In that case..." Yang cocked her Ember Celica. "How 'bout this?!" She threw a shot his way. To her surprise, the shot was knocked back and instead hit one of the pillars, creating a small dent in the foundation. "What?" To the group's surprise, Neo was standing in front of Roman, having appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a smile on her face and umbrella in hand. "When the heck did she get here?"

"Ah, Neo. You're a doll as always." Roman said with a grin as he tipped his hat. "Well, as much fun as this has been, ladies and Ice Queen..."

"Hey!" Weiss felt her eyebrow twitched. Now even the bad guys were calling her that?!

"...I'm afraid this is where we part ways." Neo giggled into her hand and did a mock bow, daring Yang to throw another punch. The blonde brawler did just that and shot another round. As soon as the shot connected, Neo and Roman shattered into pieces, as if being turned into glass. Gobsmacked, they looked around for any sign of the duo before they looked up, finding a Bullhead hovering above them. Roman was inside, waving at them with a cheeky smile. "See you ladies around!"

"Hey, wait-!" The door closed and the Bullhead took off. "Dammit! We were so close!" Yang kicked the ground in frustration.

"I know." Blake nodded in agreement. "At the very least, we now know that Roman and Devil are definitely planning something."

"But I'm not sure if it's even safe for us to keep going, Blake." Ruby interjected. "We were lucky that Devil wasn't here. We probably would've lost if he was...or worse."

"At least we destroyed the Paladin. Now they won't be able to use it. We should also get going, before people start asking questions."

"I'm afraid you ladies won't be going anywhere." A distorted voice cut into their conversation. The girls immediately spun and raised the weapons, coming face to face with a male figure garbed in a white hooded coat and a black mask.

"Who the hell are you?!" Yang cocked Ember Celica.

The masked figure tipped his head. "Good evening, Team RWBY." he greeted them by name, causing them to stiffen. "I am Wraith. A servant to His Majesty. I would say it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I'm afraid our encounter is anything but."

"Wraith...?" Blake frowned. She was confused by his introduction. His Majesty? Surely he couldn't mean King Regis. The King would never engage in criminal acts. She deduced it must be some code name for his Boss. "Are you with Roman?"

"Hardly. I'm simply using him for my own ends. Much in the same way Ozpin is using you."

This caused the four girls to blink in surprise. "...what do you mean...?" Weiss asked with narrowed eyes. Ozpin? Using them? How?

"It is exactly as I say. Just as I use Roman as pawns on a chess board, Ozpin sees you and the rest of Beacon's students, faculty, and alumni as nothing more than pieces of a little chess game he plays with those lurking in the shadows like myself. However, it is so amusing to see said little pieces act on their own, unknowingly causing destruction and death in their wake."

"What are you even talking about, bub? Make sense!" yang's eyes turned red.

"I mean, it is amusing how you act as servants of justice, while your actions tonight have produced numerous casualties on the highway." He pointed to the road above them, filled with smoke, flames, and agonized wails. The adrenaline had died down, and soon the girls started to realize what had happened up on the highway. Cars being thrown off the highway, crushed when thrown, or even stomped on. It was a hefty blow, one that knocked the wind right of their sails. Ruby felt her grip on Crescent Rose slacken.

"Doesn't feel so good, now does it?" Wraith asked, though not out of malice. "Perhaps a reminder to not get involved in anything over your head." The air suddenly shifted, becoming more oppressive as a dark aura surrounded Wraith. "Consider this your first, and final, warning." he warned them as he waved a hand, creating a green-and-black portal behind him. "Stay out of our way...or watch as everything you love and want to protect is burned down right in front of you."

"I thought you said you weren't going to let us go." Weiss challenged him, though a little confused.

Wraith chuckled. "I never said I would be the ones keeping you in place. By the way, give Team GLAE my regards..."

"Team GLAE?!" Ruby asked, feeling momentarily sober. "Wait! What about them?!"

Wraith's sole response was a snap of his fingers. Almost immediately, a dark, monstrous figure to jumped through the portal and released a deafening wail. "Ciao." Wraith stepped into the portal, vanishing with it. The four girls looked on as the darkened mass pulled itself up, revealing it to be a giant seemingly made of solid iron. It was bulky and muscular, with a flaud around its waist and a gigantic sword in hand. Its head was practically engulfed between its shoulders, with no neck visible.

Blake recognized it easily and rightfully panicked. "DAEMON!"

The Iron Giant let out a bellow and brought down its cleaver upon them.

"CHEESE IT!" Ruby screamed as she and the others jumped out of the way. The massive blade struck the asphalt, slicing deep into the earth and shaking the ground beneath their feet. The soon regrouped further away from the monster. While it was powerful, its movements were rather sluggish.

"Blake, any tips how to beat this freak?!" Yang asked her partner, knowing she probably had more experience as a Glaive.

Blake gritted her teeth. "Don't get hit, dodge quick, and hit it with everything you've got!" she said. "This thing is tough! And it won't go down easy!"

"White Rose!" Ruby shouted as she took a few shots at the Iron Giant's upper body. Weiss nodded and spun around, slamming her rapier into the ground and creating several glyphs. Ruby switched Crescent Rose to its combat form and darted forward, bouncing around back and forth while swinging the scythe against its skin.

Yang took to throwing shots out, trying to get the damn thing to stagger. It didn't even flinch. In fact, it didn't even seem to notice the miniscule attempts to hurt it before it gripped its giant blade and swung in an arc, creating a shockwave that nearly threw Blake and Weiss off their feet. Yang stumbled back and Ruby was sent flying, though she used her Crescent Rose's gunfire to maneuver, bouncing back and forth before she landed on the ground and went in, aiming for its back. She jumped and swung, the blade touching the skin. Yet there was no wound. Just a mere little cut. Almost like a mere scratch.

"W-what?!"

The Iron Giant turned around, faster than what its large body implied and tried to smash her into the ground with her fist. She got out of the way in time with her Semblance. Yang then went in at its side, followed closely by Blake. "Heads up!" she called as she threw an Elemental Bomb at the Iron Giant. It bounced off its skin, and in the next moment, a miniature blizzard erupted all around them. A thin layer of frost covered the Iron Giant's form and the wind turned unbearably cold.

"Little warning would've been nice!" Yang clenched her teeth, trying to ignore the cold and shoot off as many rounds as she could into its body before it swung at her. Rather than try to dodge, she used her Semblance to even the odds and attempted to defend against it. Instead, she found herself struggling against the weight. "Wh-what the hell's this?! It feels like I'm trying to life a house!"

"Yang!" Weiss cried in worry before creating another glyph, using a few yellow Dust crystals in her pocket. Bolts of thunder shot out and struck against the daemon, yet it barely seemed to faze it whatsoever. It seemed to distract it, though, as Ruby dashed and snatched Yang out from under it, letting the blade crush the floor instead. Appearing next to the white-clad girl, she set her sister down and looked back at the daemon as it slowly turned to face them. "Monochrome!"

Weiss and Blake nodded as the former created a glyph beneath the latter's feat. Supymbols that resembled a series of clock hands rapidly spun as a golden glow surrounded Blake. The former Glaive took off like a bullet, Gambol Shroud brandished. Black streaks danced all over the place, striking and slashing away at the Iron Giant with fervor. Seemingly becoming annoyed, it let out a demonic roar before it slammed its palm into the ground, creating a black and red wave that ripped apart the ground. Blake's assault was ceased and found herself being pulled in, along with the rest of them. Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground to gain some leverage and Blake threw Gambol Shroud to wrap it around one of the pillars. Ruby grabbed hold of Yang as she impaled the ground with Crescent Rose to prevent them from being pulled in.

Seeing its efforts as useless, the daemon ceased its attack, and instead focused on its nearest target: Blake. It raised its sword high, and the Cat Faunus saw the attack coming. Narrowing her eyes, she threw her hand out, which correlated with power before it exploded and slammed into the Iron Giant in a burst of wind. It only served to stagger it, but it allowed her to get out of there in time.

"Nothing's working!" Yang growled. "The fuck does it take to bring this sucker down?!"

"Swear!"

"Are you freaking kidding me right now, Ruby?!"

With a creaking groan of its body, the Iron Giant craned its head as it hefted its blade. With each step it took, the ground seemed to shudder. "Here it comes again." Weiss readied her rapier. "Get ready!"

Then out of nowhere, Ruby thought she heard something akin to a whistle, then streams of light flickering. In mid-swing, just as the Iron Giant was about to raise its blade again, its movements ceased. It jerked and strained, but it was stopped. Something was holding it back. Stopping it from moving.

"Good grief. A daemon, here?" a familiar voice said with a hint of surprise and dismay. "First all that noise and drama, and now this. Is the world going to hell or something?" The group of four turned and found Argent approaching, wearing jet black gloves over his hands with metal bracing over the back of his hands and on the tip of his fingers. His left hand was clenched tightly, as if holding something. "Today really is weird."

"A-Argent?" Yang spluttered. "What're you doing here?!"

Argent seemed to surprised to see them, but then his face shifted into what looked like sadness. "...I see." he said, muttering something under his breath before he released a heavy sigh. "Please wait a moment. This will be done shortly."

"You're not thinking of fighting this thing alone, are you?!" Blake asked. The seriousness on his face told her everything and she stuttered. Was he mad?! "This thing is-"

"Far easier to kill than a Behemoth." he cut her off before he threw his arm out. The Iron Giant groaned as cuts suddenly appeared, burrowing into its steely flesh. "Especially if you know where to hit."

He released his grip on his hand, then pulled it into a fist and pulled it back. In the next moment, the daemon was cut apart in the blink of an eye. Black matter splashed against the street. Chunks of its body dropped and began to dissolve into black matter. The girls stared, gobsmacked at what they had just seen and turned around at Argent with incredulous faces. They simply couldn't believe that he had just killed a daemon with only a few movements of his hand. Then Ruby saw metal tips retract into his gloves, attached to what seemed like thin strings.

She gasped. "Wires..." she breathed in amazement. "You were using wires?!"

That, that was amazing. She had no idea you could fight with wires, especially like that! The applications alone were amazing! Sure, it was mundane, but if it could do something like that, it was awesome! Maybe even more so than Crescent Rose!

Argent, for some reason, didn't like her enthusiasm. In fact, it only made the strained look on his face. "Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be, Ruby." he asked.

"Huh?"

She felt something wrap around her. Then she yelped when her body jerked in different directions. Her scythe fell out of her hands and clattered to the ground. "What the-hey!" Yang shouted angrily as she found herself bound with the rest of her team, arms and legs restrained by wires. "What's the big idea?!"

"Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. By the authority placed upon me by the High Councilman, Vale Council, and General Ironwood to apprehend criminals during the time of the Vytal Festival, you are all hereby arrest on account of destruction of public property and manslaughter." he spoke the words gravely as if he were speaking at a funeral, refusing to look them in the eye. Any and all resistance they had died right then and there, replaced by shock and horror. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you..."

The only sound that rung in their ears, especially Ruby's, was the sound of wailing and groaning metal. All the strength in her body died and went limp. She felt her heart sink before her body grew numb. She stared blankly at the destruction up on the highway, as if seeing it for the first time.

'Did we...do all that...?'

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Chapter: END

* * *

 **Next Time: In Line**

 **Starlight's Poet: Well... That was a thing. So, yeah. A bit of realism from what happened back during "Painting the Town..." I mean, c'mon. Let's face it, all those cars that got destroyed or thrown off the bridge had people inside. Not automated cars for Pete's sake. And our first real look at huntresses versus daemons! COMPLETELY one sided, if maybe a little short. After all, these aren't Grimm, and Team RWBY isn't the Chocobros. They won't be able to fight those suckers just yet.**

 **Bit of warning for you all, but this will be my last update, as I will be leaving for a trip to Seattle. Gonna go see the Space Needle. Maybe tag it like what Delsin did in Second Son. But I am going to have a special story for you all when it's done! Friendly reminder that "Of Crystal Shards and Dust" has a TV Tropes page, so feel free to edit and add to it! Anything you want to share before we end our bi** **nge update, my friend?**

 **Daemon of Wrath: I agree with Starlight's Poet. It seemed a bit odd that they escaped repercussions after the highway incident. Here though, people are more observant and such. So unfortunately, Team RWBY was arrested, fortunately for them, Ardyn, for reasons unknown, pardoned them.**

 **And for those who were surprised by Trinity's appearance after his fight with Plague last volume, rest assured it's not another retcon. However, his presence despite his implied demise…..will be revealed in due time.**

 **Also, in regards to Neptune's background as a hacker, well, it was inspired by the fic, The Warriors With Silver Eyes by ZENxRaider23, who wrote Neptune as a hacker. Personally, I thought it was a cool way to expand his character and his status as an 'intellectual'. Plus, it would give him more use for a role we had in mind for him later down the road. For now though, his skills went to good use as he revealed Jacques' shady dealings with the Anti-Lucian Federation Terrorist group, yet it seems like he is but a lowly supplier.**

 **Also, RWBY and FFXV Do NOT belong to us. They belong to Rooster Teeth and Square Enix respectively, and The Warriors With Silver Eyes belongs to ZENxRaider23 as previously mentioned.**

 **Thank you all, and please read and review. We appreciate your feedback.**


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